If you are pointing out one of the things a story is about, then you are very probably right; if you are pointing out the only thing a story is about you are very probably wrong – even if you’re the author.
Rule one of reading other people’s stories is that whenever you say ‘well that’s not convincing’ the author tells you that’s the bit that wasn’t made up. This is because real life is under no obligation to be convincing.
Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.
One of the things I’m concerned about is that I really want to make sure the races of all the characters are kept. I don’t like it when black characters become white in movies, or things like that.
It has always been the perogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.
In a novel, you can always go back and make it look like you knew what you were doing all along before the thing goes out and gets published.
I learned to write by writing. I tended to do anything as long as it felt like an adventure, and to stop when it felt like work, which meant that life did not feel like work.
I came to the conclusion that in comedy, everybody gets what they need, whereas in horror, everybody gets what they deserve. I decided that at the end of the day, I was going to give everybody what they needed.
I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful.
We have an obligation to make things beautiful. Not to leave the world uglier than we found it, not to empty the oceans, not to leave our problems for the next generation.
Well meaning adults can easily destroy a child’s love of reading – do not discourage children from reading because you feel they’re reading the wrong thing. There is no such thing as the wrong thing to be reading and no bad fiction for kids.
I always say that if you’re a novelist, the challenge is not writing what you think ought to happen, but trying in some way to write what did happen in a world that doesn’t necessarily exist.
Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
Leave no stone unturned. Deeply explore the beauty of your life.
I know that this is the internet, and we’re all anonymous and all that, but really. It doesn’t hurt to try to be nice.
I didn’t like people rewriting my dialogue. I didn’t like the fact that we’d start a comic with the Joker, and by the time we inked it, he would have turned into the Scarecrow.
Being brave doesn’t mean you aren’t scared. Being brave means you are scared, really scared, badly scared, and you do the right thing anyway.
Fiction gives us empathy: it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gifts of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.
Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.