Can you use a good laugh? David Thorne is an Australian writer, humorist and satirist. I think he’s a really funny guy. Read More...
If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it.
It is only natural to pattern yourself after someone. But you can’t just copy someone. If you like someone’s work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to.
Reading and weeping opens the door to one’s heart, but writing and weeping opens the window to one’s soul.
My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.
The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home.
When writing a novel, that’s pretty much entirely what life turns into: “House burned down. Car stolen. Cat exploded. Did 1,500 easy words, so all in all it was a pretty good day.”
No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader’s intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.
I do not over-intellectualize the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.
Editor: A person employed by a newspaper, whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to see that the chaff is printed.
A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
Do not place a photograph of your favorite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide.

























