I am led to the proposition that there is no fiction or nonfiction as we commonly understand the distinction: there is only narrative.

Like art and politics, gangsterism is a very important avenue of assimilation into society.

I've known several cases of writers who decide to write about something and they research the hell out of it and when they're ready to write, they can't move because they are so burdened. I start writing. Whatever I need somehow comes to hand.

I thought of myself as a writer for years before I got around to writing anything.

We make a mistake to condescend to the past as if it were preparatory to our own time.

I like commas. I detest semi-colons — I don’t think they belong in a story. And I gave up quotation marks long ago. I found I didn’t need them, they were fly-specks on the page.

Movies are too literal.