Writers sometimes are paid a great deal of money, but much more frequently they're not paid or are paid only a little bit.

It's a scary thing for fiction writers, when you're always writing from the point of view both as and for someone who is different.

When an editor first explained to me the difference between direct and indirect writing, I just thought it was a stylistic choice.

I think people feel for a long time that they ought to know how to write a novel in two drafts.

There is a lot of censorship about writing that's exerted from all directions, from families or governments and society, even the fear of being offensive in some way.

I find that I get very excited about what my students are up to and that I get to be the hurdle they need to jump over.

I think we need to develop the courage to write from the viewpoint of people who may seem quite different from ourselves, who might have a different sexual orientation or a different race or a different ethnicity.