“Readers find most flashbacksintolerable. Yet a lot of neophyte writers flash back like mad.Why? No one but the Creator of the Universe knows for sure,but there is a likely answer: they find the conflicts in the "now"of the story produce anxiety in themselves.”

“You know, it's a funny thing about writers. Most people don't stop to think of books being written by people much like themselves. They think that writers are all dead long ago--they don't expect to meet them in the street or out shopping. They know their stories but not their names, and certainly not their faces. And most writers like it that way.”

“all stories are like those about the creation of the universe, no one was there, no one witnessed anything, yet everyone knows what happened.”

“I know that books seem like the ultimate thing that’s made by one person, but that’s not true… Every reading of a book is a collaboration between the reader and the writer who are making the story up together.”

“I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.”

“Being a professional writer is a lot like being a hooker. You'd better find out if you're any good at it before you start charging for it.”