In a way - I know how crazy this will sound, of course I do, but there is no sense in writing something as long as this if you can't say what feels true to your heart.

At its most basic we are only discussing a learned skill, but do we not agree that sometimes the most basic skills can create things far beyond our expectations? We are talking about tools and carpentry, about words and style...but as we move along, you'd do well to remember that we are also talking about magic.

Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right — as right as you can, anyway — it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it.

There'll always be a market for shit, of course. Just look at Jeffrey Archer! He writes like old people fuck doesn't he?

When you write a story, you are telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are NOT the story...Your stuff starts out being just for you...but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right, as right as you can...it belongs to anyone who wants to read it, or criticise it.

I have a real problem with bloat -- I write like fat ladies diet.

It seems to occur to few of the attendees [of a writing retreat] that if you have a feel you just can't describe, you might just be, I don't know, kind of like, my sense of it is, maybe in the wrong fucking class.

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the tools to write.

Hemingway sucks. If I set out to write that way, it would have been been hollow and lifeless because it wasn't me.