1. "Put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around."
2. "Write with the door closed, and rewrite with the door open.
3. "There are lots of would-be censors out there, and although they may have different agendas, they all want basically the same thing: for you to see the world they see... or to at least shut up about what you do see that's different. They are the agents of the status quo."
4. "Write what you like, then imbue it with life and make it unique by blending in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationships, sex, and work. Especially work. People love to read about work."
5. "Dumbo got airborne with the help of a magic feather; you may feel the urge to grasp a passive verb or one of those nasty adverbs for the same reason. Just remember before you do that Dumbo didn't need the feather; the magic was in him."
6. "The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease and intimacy with the process of writing; one comes to the country with one's papers and identification pretty much in order. Constant reading will pull you into a place (a mind-set, if you like the phrase) where you can write eagerly and without self-consciousness. It also offers you a constantly growing knowledge of what has been done and what hasn't, what is trite and what is fresh, what works and what just lies there dying (or dead) on the page."
7. "Stylistic imitation is one thing, and a perfectly honorable way to get started as a writer... but one cannot imitate a writer's approach to a particular genre, no matter how simple what that writer is doing may seem."
8. "While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one."
9. "Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation."
10. "In my view, stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech. You may wonder where the plot is in all of this. The answer-my answer, anyway-is nowhere."
11. "For me, what happens to characters as a story progresses depends solely on what I discover about them as I go along-how they grow, in other words. Sometimes they grow a little. If they grow a lot, they begin to influence the course of the story instead of the other way around."
12. "We've all heard someone say, 'Man, it was so great (or so horrible/strange/funny) ... I just can't describe it!' If you want to be a successful writer, you must be able to describe it, and in a way that will cause your reader to prickle with recognition."
13. "Paragraphs are almost always as important for how they look as for what they say; they are maps of intent."
14. "In fiction, the paragraph is less structured-it's the beat instead of the actual melody. The more fiction you read and write, the more you'll find our paragraphs forming on their own. And that's what you want."
15. "Writing is refined thinking."
16. "Try any goddam thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it."
17. "You can't please all of the readers all of the time; you can't please even some of the readers all of the time, but you really ought to try to please at least some of the readers some of the time."
