fiction is the great lie that tells the truth

And while it is true that I got the best woman in the world, I don't think love saves you.

Teenagers are free verse walking around on two legs.

I tell my students you have an absolute right to write about people you know and love. You do. But the kicker is you have a responsibility to make the characters large enough that you will not have sinned against them.

she got a reputation for an easy smile and a sharp tongue, and using one to balance the other, she seemed friendly but distant

Two or three things I know for sure, and one is that I'd rather go naked than wear the coat the world has made for me.

I need you to do more than survive. As writers, as revolutionaries, tell the truth, your truth in your own way. Do not buy into their system of censorship, imagining that if you drop this character or hide that emotion, you can slide through their blockades. Do not eat your heart out in the hope of pleasing them.