Fiction shows the external effects of internal conditions. Be aware of the tension between internal and external movement.

When a reader finishes a wonderful story and lays it aside, he should have to pause for a minute and collect himself.

We knew our days were numbered. We had fouled up our lives and we were getting ready for a shake-up.

Life and death matters, yes. And the question of how to behave in this world, how to go in the face of everything. Time is short and the water is rising.

The smooth stones you pick up and examine under the moon's light have been made blue from the sea. Next morning when you pull them from your trouser pocket, they are still blue.

Something’s died in me,” she goes. “It took a long time for it to do it, but it’s dead. You’ve killed something, just like you’d took an axe to it. Everything is dirt now.

There is no answer. It's okay. But even if it wasn't okay, what am I supposed to do?