I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.

To me, writing is the most fun. It's not always fun, but finally when you make it come out the way you want, it's then you can say, 'It's fun, boy.'

Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue.

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

Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

I don’t think writers compete, I think they’re all doing separate things in their own style.

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he's already been told twice.