It is neither fair nor unfair, Nobody Owens. It simply is

If you have something specific and visible to fear, rather than something that could be anything, it is easier.

The best advice I can give on this is, once it's done, to put it away until you can read it with new eyes. Finish the short story, print it out, then put it in a drawer and write other things. When you're ready, pick it up and read it, as if you've never read it before. If there are things you aren't satisfied with as a reader, go in and fix them as a writer: that's revision.

Are you scared?’ asked Mr. Ibis. ‘Not really.’ ‘Well, try to cultivate the emotions of true awe and spiritual terror, as we walk. They are the appropriate feelings for the situation at hand.

Watch out for that pedestrian!" "It's on the street, it knows the risks it's taking!

It’s easier to kill people, when you’re dead yourself. I mean, it’s not such a big deal. You’re not so prejudiced any more.

I would not wish to marry someone who had already been married. It would be,' she opined, 'like having someone else break in one's own pony.