'i see the look on your faces, you don't know what to write, i'm telling you what to write. is there a family story, a family secret that you only hear about in whispers? is it something that happened to your friend's family? is it something you read in the newspaper? ...you take that true case, you ask yourself two questions: suppose and what if, and turn that case into fiction."
"[a line]...might take weeks. forget weeks, just leave a blank there for his last line. it's that easy...i end scenes with my main character saying something, and it might take me weeks, and i go back and fill it in. 