At the heart of all good fiction and at the heart of all good gossip is the same thing: trouble.
I was always writing. I just didn't know if I was any good.
I sat around the kitchen every Sunday afternoon listening to my mother and aunts talk about the people in the neighborhood. Gossip - I loved it. And that turns out to be the writer's job: to attend to the gossip and spread it as far as you can.
Fiction begins with the senses, and the senses go to work in a place.
I learned to love stories by listening to them.
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.