Maybe we're stuck with who we are.

I've been astonished how often, when I convince a writer to tell a story more straightforwardly and to tell it more simply and directly, it turns out that this author is great and the story is wonderful.

There's the belief that we can't be smart enough to write. And certainly censorship of women, too.

Sometimes people want to know how to write a story from the point of view of a murderer and make her sympathetic. I think the answer is that you start by having her look for her car keys, because everybody knows what it's like.

I don't really like to tell people to get out drugs.

Maybe we're stuck with who we are.

The making of fiction takes literally what is suggested by our imagination.