“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.”

“Write hard and clear about what hurts.”

“Though there is one part of writing that is solid and you do it no harm by talking about it, the other is fragile, and if you talk about it, the structure cracks and you have nothing.”

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”

“Scott took LITERATURE so solemnly. He never understood that it was just writing as well as you can and finishing what you start.”

“I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows.”

“In order to write about life first you must live it.”