"The most important thing in writing is to have written. I can always fix a bad page. I can't fix a blank one."
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"Good fiction creates its own reality."
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"Ideas are in infinite–writers are hardwired to think that way. We keep it fresh by using new people, mixing character types and putting them in a different setting. It's always the first book all over again, but one idea can be told a thousand different ways. There are 88 keys on the piano, but you can make an infinite amount of music from those keys."
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"A writer never finds the time to write. A writer makes it. If you don't have the drive, the discipline, and the desire, then you can have all the talent in the world, and you aren't going to finish a book."
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"Anyone who tells you there's a right way to write is a lying bitch."
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"If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place."
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"In the middles of my books are often the toughest for me to write. If the pacing flags, I deal with the problem by looking around at all my characters and figuring out which one I can kill."
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"My top three pieces of writing advice? Stop whining and write. Stop fucking around and write. Stop making excuses and write."
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"Passion for our stories can only carry us so far. Self-discipline take us the rest of the way."
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"Sometimes you love without the happily ever after. That doesn't make the story any less important, any less vital."
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"Action, reaction, motivation, emotion, all have to come from the characters. Writing a love scene requires the same elements from the writer as any other."
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"And each book has to receive your best effort every single time. No slacking."
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"Sometimes a wind comes up, blows you off course. You're not ready for it, but if you're lucky, you end up in a more interesting place than you'd planned."
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"A good story is like a door, and you can go through it whenever you need to. After you've read it or seen it or heard it, you can still go back through it. Once it's yours, it's always yours."
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"I don't fiddle or edit or change while i'm going through that first draft."