You think intelligence and grit can succeed by themselves, but I'm telling you that's a pretty illusion.

Every paragraph should accomplish two goals: advance the story, and develop your characters as complex human beings.

You think intelligence and grit can succeed by themselves, but I'm telling you that's a pretty illusion.

There are two wrong reactions to a rejection slip: deciding it's a final judgment on your story and/or talent, and deciding it's no judgment on your story and/or talent.

Anything said in upper-crust British automatically sounded intelligent.

Religious reverence for one's own job, even if the job is worth doing, is a sexual turnoff.

Fiction is about stuff that's screwed up.