“A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.”

“I always tell my writing students that every good piece of writing begins with both a mystery and a love story. And that every single sentence must be a poem. And that economy is the key to all good writing. And that every character has to have a secret.”

“Before you can write a single sentence, you must first create an entire world to support it.”

“Under every friendship there is a difficult sentence that must be said, in order that the friendship can be survived.”

“I have mood poisoning. Must be something I hate. ”

“A serious adult story must be true to something in life. Since marvel tales cannot be true to the events of life, they must shift their emphasis towards something to which they can be true; namely, certain wistful or restless moods of the human spirit, wherein it seeks to weave gossamer ladders of escape from the galling tyranny of time, space, and natural law.”