We're always inventing, even if we're making someone who's fairly close to ourselves.

We're always inventing, even if we're making someone who's fairly close to ourselves.

Anyone with an imagination can write about the day-to-day experiences of someone he or she is not.

I had never written about what it's like to live the life of a writer, and I had never read a book that combined talking about the life of writing and how you can do it, how you can stand it, how you can emotionally manage it, with the choices that we all make on the page.

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.

I think a day in your life on which nothing bad happens may be a wonderful day, but it probably isn't going to be the basis of a story.

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