I think what I'm after, a lot of the time, is just honesty. What accounts for the fact that the stories we tell ourselves - the story we carry around and think of most often - are the dark ones? Maybe we have to wander around in the darkness to understand it?

What you can do with a short story that you can't do with a novel is punch someone in the gut, in the best of ways.

I think anything we do - eating, walking down the street, online shopping - gives you another perspective on writing stories.

If a novel or a story works, you don't stop thinking about it; it doesn't truly end.

I revise and revise and revise. I'm not even sure "revise" is the right word. I work a story almost to death before it's done.

I agree with the Lev Tolstoy quote completely, but I also feel like there's more to it. What is a happy family and an unhappy family? We're probably both of those things at the same time.

I think some writers should wait for something to say.