History is beautiful stories or scary stories, yeah.

Stephen King has the exact ability that Charles Dickens had. To get to his readers in spite of or despite anything the reviews say.

I enjoy going to campuses and reading and doing a class or teaching and then running away and not having to grade papers.

I have found myself writing poetry shortly after I retired. Which I hadn't done in forty years.

The best defense is a good story.

If there is some blood on the pages then you have some readership.

First-book novelists and storywriters haven't yet failed and so it's easier to publish them - you can gamble on a success. Whereas someone who has written four books that are highly literary and demanding and require you as a reader. They may not be republished.