Curiously, the United States is full of writers who have one big work in their life and that's all.

In the theater, characters have to cut the umbilical cord from the writer and talk in their own voices

I cringe when critics say I'm a master of the popular novel. What's an unpopular novel?

An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.

In America, we have the feeling of the doomed young artist. Fitzgerald was the great example of that.

All writers are the same - they forget a thousand good reviews and remember one bad one.

Writing is finally play, and there's no reason why you should get paid for playing