To be a good editor or a good writer, I think you really need to be a great reader first.

To be a good editor or a good writer, I think you really need to be a great reader first.

We were a different kind of Christian, the quiet, reasonable kind, a breed embarrassed by the mention of miracles.

My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that imagined reader, which is a crucial part of learning to tell stories.

I really believe that fiction functions best when stories are allowed to develop in an organic way, so I didn't set out to deliver a specific message.

My goal was just to tell the unlikely story in a way that would feel as convincing as possible.

It requires a certain kind of bravery, I suppose, to choose the status quo. There's a certain boldness to inaction.