Never Say You Can't Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories

Samuel R. Delany says that when writers go back and change an event in their fiction, they have to “convince themselves that the story actually did happen … in the new way,” and that the original version was hearsay, or a misunderstanding of the events.

None of us can do our best work unless we’re all supporting and encouraging each other, so you need to find the people who appreciate you and want to pull you up with them when they’re doing well.

character who’s chasing after something unrelated to the search for a plot widget is more interesting.

I try to focus on the little details about the characters and the world, for clues about where things should go next.

Writing is a solitary act—but it’s also a way to feel connected to the world, in a different way than spending ten hours a day on social media.

3. I had a choice between writing pretty terrible war fiction and somewhat less terrible queer lit, and only one of those things was going to make me happy and leave me with the energy to do actual useful work in the world.

increasingly find it helpful to think in terms of “options become constrained,” rather than “things get worse.”

Many plots boil down to “I want this sandwich, but someone else doesn’t want me to have this sandwich.”

Every character needs goals or desires—and they don’t have to be related to the plot.