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

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

Sometimes it's interesting to see what people who have too much control need to do to write freely.

I think that inevitably, the trouble our characters go through is a kind of metaphor for what's happening in ourselves.

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 get to a certain point, and I think in a novel it's about the third draft, when I want other eyes on it.

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