I’m reconfiguring Ghostwriters Central. The first change was to bring Kate Jonez on board. She’s a marvelous writer, Read More...
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.
Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.
Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
What I loved most about calling myself a reporter was that it gave me an excuse to show up anyplace.
Thank your readers and the critics who praise you, and then ignore them. Write for the most intelligent, wittiest, wisest audience in the universe: Write to please yourself.
Every writer with half a brain knows to surround himself or herself with editors who are smarter, far more articulate and infinitely better looking.
A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellow man is not conceivable as a writer.
I have long felt that any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has just put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae or banana split.
Anecdotes don’t make good stories. Generally, I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about.
The fact is, I don’t know where my ideas come from. Nor does any writer. The only real answer is to drink way too much coffee and buy yourself a desk that doesn’t collapse when you beat your head against it.
If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it.
I have a structured songwriting process. I start with the music and try to come up with musical ideas, then the melody, then the hook, and the lyrics come last.
Ever heard of a carpenter not going to work because he has “carpenter’s block”? If a writer can’t write, it’s because he doesn’t really want to, he isn’t ready to get it on paper or he’s just plain lazy.
Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
My aim is to put down what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way I can tell it.

























