When I read students’ attempts at creative writing it is obvious immediately that most of them have not read much or widely. The aspiring writer must read everything he or she can to appreciate the myriad ways words are used and to what effect.

To write and not tell the truth? That would be death for any writer. But more, it would be death to the imagination. And if the imagination dies, what would happen to the souls of children?

Some wounds go so deep that you don't even feel them until months, maybe years, later.

Books, and especially fiction, do not proceed from ideas. They are born from feelings

When I read students’ attempts at creative writing it is obvious immediately that most of them have not read much or widely. The aspiring writer must read everything he or she can to appreciate the myriad ways words are used and to what effect.

Being a failure at living your own life as best as you can is better than being a success living the life somebody else says you should live.

Goodness was not a trait you acquired; it was a value you practiced when you were on the verge of doing evil.