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.

You can't tell a writer they should just be more confident.

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.

You may be somebody who writes best for a small press that doesn't pay very well, but you might have a fascinating and intricate style that might not appeal to as many readers but will be incredibly meaningful to the readers you have. Truly, that's as wonderful if not more wonderful.

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

You have to write fiction that mirrors the actual world, which has people of all sorts in it.

Certainly children are being encouraged far more than they were seventy-five years ago and are more accepted as they are.