Novelist as a Vocation

A writer’s instinct and intuition derive less from logic and more from the level of determination brought to the task.

good luck is, so to speak, simply an admission ticket.

Some people insist that if you’re truly talented at something, your talent will definitely blossom someday. But based on my own gut feelings—and I trust my gut—that won’t necessarily happen. If that talent lies buried in a relatively shallow place, it’s very possible it will emerge on its own. But if it’s buried deep down, you can’t discover it tha

A writer’s greatest responsibility is to his readers, to keep providing them with the best work that he is capable of turning out.

It’s a very rough estimate, but my guess is that about five percent of all people are active readers of literature. This narrow slice of the population forms the core of the total reading public.

Absorb as many stories as you physically can. Introduce yourself to lots of great writing. To lots of mediocre writing, too.

What we call the imagination consists of fragments of memory that lack any clear connection with one another.

the first task for the aspiring novelist is to read tons of novels. Sorry to start with such a commonplace observation, but no training is more crucial.

Once the habit of reading has taken hold—usually when we are very young—it cannot be easily dislodged.