I Don't Think The Creative Writing Industry

In The Best Fiction, The Language Itself Can Become Almost Invisible.

One Of The Biggest Changes That Ever Occurred In My Life Was Going From The Isolation Of Working Part-time As A House Painter In Henderson County, To Cornell, Where Everybody Was A Literary Person.

The Decision To Write In Prose Instead Of Poetry Is Made More By The Readers Than By Writers. Almost No One Is Interested In Reading Narrative In Verse.

I Tell Students They Will Know They Are Getting Somewhere When A Scene Is So Painful They Can Just Barely Bring Themselves To Write About It. A Writer Has To Draw Blood.

I Encourage Students To Pursue An Idea Far Enough So They Can See What The Cliches And Stereotypes Are. Only Then Do They Begin To Hit Pay Dirt.