Status, worry and comparison are ways to madness, not victory.

There's a perilous word fiction writers need to watch out for. The word is 'had.'

A writing teacher once told me that the most successful movies and books were simple plots about complex characters. You should be able to articulate your concept in a couple of lines.

Status, worry and comparison are ways to madness, not victory.

In fact, one could argue that the skill of the fiction writer boils down to the ability to exploit intensity.

The thing I do at the beginning is a "voice journal," a free form doc that is the character speaking to me. I just work on it until I start to hear different from my own, or the other characters.

Every hour you spend writing is an hour you don't spend worrying about your writing.