You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. Somebody tells a story, let's say, and afterward you ask, 'Is it true?' and if the answer matters, you've got your answer . . . Absolute occurrence is irrelevant. A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.

A true war story is never moral.

He wished he could've explained some of this. How he had been braver than he ever thought possible, but how he had not been so brave as he wanted to be. The distinction was important.

Writing doesn’t get easier with experience. The more you know, the harder it is to write.

The presence of danger has a way of making you feel fully awake.

It's very hard to articulate the things that are important about writing.

Inside I feel much like a 12-year-old or a 17-year-old who knows big words.