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

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

But people in a small town tend to do a lot of talking, even when they don’t know what they’re talking about.

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.

Write about the thing that scares you most or your most private confession and you'll never have a problem coming up with decent fiction.

There is no right or wrong way to write a novel. Each journey is different for every individual work and for every writer. The first error is never to begin; the second is never to finish.