I always wanted to fire rays out of my fingertips.

You can read a dozen different textbooks or how-to manuals that will tell you the basic rules of what makes a story - a beginning, a middle, and an end.

In these litigious times, if you're a beginner, it's becoming harder and harder to get your work to the people who might actually be able to hire you.

If a story isn't working, I'm simply unable to finish it. That's what usually tells me something is wrong.

The bottom line always remains the same: What is the basic humanity of the character? How do I make them resonate with the reader?

These days, it seems that if you're not already in place, you can't get there from here.

Unfortunately, there are writers whose only concern is how good they could make themselves look on a title.

What makes a story is how well it manages to connect with the reader, the visceral effect it has.

People who were more concerned with themselves and looking good to their readers then they were with the characters sacrificed a series for the sake of a story.