I’ve always thought a novelist only has one character and that is himself or herself.

Writing is manual labor of the mind: a job, like laying pipe.

The narrative was too constricted; it was like a fetus strangling on its own umbilical cord.

Novels do take charge of the writer, and the writer is basically a kind of sheepdog just trying to keep things on track.

The eleventh commandment of a motion picture negotiation: Thou shalt not take less than thy last deal.

The point of a notebook is to jumpstart the mind.

Violence is the way stupid people try to level the playing field.