My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.

I get letters. I get several a week, I think. A lot of people want a picture, a lot of people just want an autograph.

Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue... I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated" and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.

I don't judge in my books. I don't have to have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It's just how it comes out. I'm just telling a story.

I've quit writing screenplay [adaptations]. It's too much work. I don't look at writing a novel as work, because I only have to please myself. I have a good time sitting here by myself, thinking up situations and characters, getting them to talk - it's so satisfying. But screenwriting's different. You might think you're writing for yourself, but there are too many other people to please.

If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.