Always mystify, torture, mislead, and surprise the audience as much as possible.

Regarding the creative: never assume you're the master, only the student. Your audience will determine if you're masterful.

Writing a story, regardless of length, begins always with a single word.

A day of bad writing is always better than a day of no writing.

It’s hard to land a devastating jab/cross/hook/uppercut combo to your reader’s imagination when you’re telegraphing your punches.

Writers often torture themselves trying to get the words right. Sometimes you must lower your expectations and just finish it.

If you focus on the humanity of your stories, your characters, then the horror will be stronger, scarier. Without the humanity, the horror becomes nothing more than a tawdry parlor trick. All flash and no magic, and worst of all, no heart.