If it isn't a wonderful story first, who cares how 'important' it is? (Ibid.)

I wonder sometimes if the motivation for writers ought to be contempt, not admiration. (from the introduction to the story collection Future on Fire, where he …

Among my most prized possessions are the words that I have never spoken.

Tell the story plainly and clearly.

'I have this thing for generating character-oriented plots, where you look at a character and say 'What's the worst thing I could do to this guy?' I've found t…

A lot of my stories end with 'And when I regained consciousness, there was a crowd standing around looking at me.'

I have the 'thing' worked out - the trick or the surprise or the pivotal fact. Then I just start somewhere and let the story work itself out.