Never sleep with anybody who has more problems than you do.

Writing is a marathon, not a sprint.

Stories build cultures by answering the big questions.

Angry contradiction of the patriarch is not creativity; it's delinquency calling for attention. Difference for the sake of difference is as empty an achievement as slavishly following the commercial imperative.

No matter our talent, we all know in the midnight of our souls that 90 percent of what we do is less than our best.

Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form.

If you can't play all the instruments in the orchestra of story, no matter what music may be in your imagination, you're condemned to hum the same old tune.