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.

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.

That was what gospel was meant to do - make you hate and love yourself at the same time, make you ashamed and glorified.

fiction is the great lie that tells the truth

I wanted her to to go on talking and understand without me saying anything. I wanted her to love me enough to leave him, to pack us up and take us away from him, to kill him if need be. (107)

What's the best thing you can do for your writing? Construct a boring life.

Mama learned to laugh with them, before they could laugh at her, and to do it so well no one could be sure what she really thought or felt.