Everything has to be pulling weight in a short story for it to be really of the first order.
Tobias WolffI teach one semester a year, and this year I'm just teaching one course during that semester, a writing workshop for older students in their late 20s and early 30s, people in our graduate program who are already working on a manuscript and trying to bring it to completion.
Tobias WolffThere are writers who do start doing the same thing again and again and almost inevitably fall into self-parody.
Tobias WolffWhen we are green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rights, that the world is disposed to act in our best interests, and that falling and dying are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we alone, of all the people ever born, have a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever
Tobias Wolff