As a rule of thumb I say, if Socrates, Jesus and Tolstoy wouldn't do it, don't.

As every writer knows... there is something mysterious about the writer's ability, on any given day, to write. When the juices are flowing, or the writer is 'hot', an invisible wall seems to fall away, and the writer moves easily and surely from one kind of reality to another... Every writer has experienced at least moments of this strange, magical state. Reading student fiction one can spot at once where the power turns on and where it turns off, where the writer writes from 'inspiration' or deep, flowing vision, and where he had to struggle along on mere intellect.

One must be just a little crazy to write a great novel. One must be capable of allowing the darkest, most ancient and shrewd parts of one’s being to take over the work from time to time.

So childhood too feels good at first, before one happens to notice the terrible sameness, age after age.

The primary subject of fiction is and has always been human emotion, values, and beliefs.

Writing a novel is like heading out over the open sea in a small boat. It helps, if you have a plan and a course laid out.

Art Gropes. It stalks like a hunter lost in the woods, listening to itself and to everything around it, unsure of itself, waiting to pounce.