You must learn to be three people at once: writer, character, and reader.

Conflict is the place where character and plot intersect.

You must learn to be three people at once: writer, character, and reader.

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.

Characterization is not divorced from plot, not a coat of paint you slap on after the structure of events is already built. Rather characterization is inseparable from plot.

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

Fiction is about stuff that's screwed up.