“I tell writers not to think about writing short stories or novels. Just write one good scene. And then a novel becomes a bunch of good scenes stacked on top of each other.”
“If a writer writes poems and short stories and novels, but nobody ever reads them, is she really a writer?”
“I find writing novels a challenge, writing stories a joy. If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden.”
“You can't write ... on the strength of influence. You can only write a good story or a good novel by yourself.”
“For me, writing a short story is much, much harder than writing a novel.”
“Don’t try to write a novel. Write short stories and then figure out how to connect them.”