It's possible to become so comfortable with one's style and structure that one ceases to grow.

For me, writing a short story is much, much harder than writing a novel.

It took me about 12 years to reach my million-word mark. The challenge now is to continue to challenge myself.

I'm not constrained by being a genre writer. Any story I can imagine, I can cast as a fantasy novel and probably get it published.

It's possible to become so comfortable with one's style and structure that one ceases to grow.

Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.

Short-story writing requires an exquisite sense of balance. Novelists, frankly, can get away with more. A novel can have a dull spot or two, because the reader has made a different commitment.