“Stories always started this way, suddenly, and set within a strange world. Patience is required, to let the stories unroll. This is how people explan their lives.”

“Should he start out on a psychotherapeutic pilgrimage, he sets out on an adventure in narration. The principle of explanation consists of getting the story told - somehow, anyhow - in order to discover how it begins. (21)”

“Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories and they will figure out how those stories apply to them.”

“Tell your story. Don't try and tell the stories that other people can tell. Any starting writer starts out with other people's voices. But as quickly as you can start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there will always be better writers than you and there will always be smarter writers than you, but you are the only you.”

“A story is not something of this world. A real story requires a kind of magical baptism to link the world on this side with the world on the other side.”

“Writing novels is much the same. You gather up bones and make your gate, but no matter how wonderful the gate might be, that alone doesn't make it a living breathing novel. A story is not something of this world. A real story requires a kind of magical baptism to link the world on this side with the world on the other side.”