If you think about it, fiction is nothing more than gossip about the people you've made up.

I learned to love stories by listening to them.

There were the fairy tales my father told to me at bedtime. All the standards. I thought my father invented wolves.

Writing a story, you understand, is not done by consensus. But we do learn from each other, and we remind ourselves how important this work we're doing is.

In revision, your imagination becomes deeply engaged with your material. It's when you come to know your characters and begin to perceive their motivations and values.

You lose a wallet or keys or something and you notice in a second, but your life can go missing and you don't even know it.

The purpose of the first draft is not to get it right, but to get it written.