On opening sentences: "If in the first chapter a hurricane is going to blow down an oak tree which falls through the kitchen roof, there's no need to first describe the kitchen."

My students - all adults - bring a lot of writing skill to the first class, and they and I get better as the class progresses.

I researched fiction writing for months before I taught my first class, much of it looking for strong techniques from bestselling authors.

I need time to develop the idea into a plot before I talk about it.

On opening sentences: "If in the first chapter a hurricane is going to blow down an oak tree which falls through the kitchen roof, there's no need to first describe the kitchen."

My experience is that an original and compelling idea for a novel is a rare thing.

None of great sages of China preached the precept of love as a guideline for human behavior.