Every book contains a secret – even the writer doesn’t always know what it is.

I closed my eyes and dived into foreign water.

No,” she breathes. The smell of her turns to spice, sharp and warm, and I know I’m sensing her now, even through the block in the house.We stand like that for an eternity, still as...

The viewpoint character in each story is usually someone trapped in a living nightmare, but this doesn’t guarantee that we and the protagonist are at one. In fact Woolrich often makes us pull away from...

Ah, ya, omong-omong, aku sangat merindukanmu. Apa kau merindukanku juga, mmm?

Do what you love, especially if your sharing the word

She smiled sinisterly. Light mist started to slowly swirl around us. All I could see was her, the tall rocks and the white wall. She beckoned to me. I took a step and another. I...

Without a doubt the two best words in the English language are The End

As a passionate writer, reader and fiction lover, I enjoy sharing recommendations and promoting the work of fellow authors.

I could have drowned…and my brother didn’t even care.

To my fellow writers’ I say, ‘Write. Build an imaginary world like nobody’s watching.

irresponsibility” of characters. Characters are irresponsible, art is irresponsible when compared to life, because it is first and foremost important that a character be real, and as readers or watchers we tend to applaud any...

She asserted that the best fictional detail was a chosen detail, not a remembered one – for fictional truth was not only the truth of observation, which was the truth of mere journalism. The best...

When well told, a story captured the subtle movement of change. If a novel was a map of a country, a story was the bright silver pin that marked the crossroads.

We share a bond. We do everything together. We have a piece of strong, invisible thread connecting us. It’s indestructible – it can never be broken. The thread is the key item that links us...

Reading is fuel for the brain. Writing is fuel for the spirit…

Yeah, I know what your English Professor tried to tell you. But if your English Professor could make a living writing fiction, they would have been doing it.

The last image I registered was Ethan and my hand – linked, bound and unbreakable.

A smart person is not one that knows the answers, but one who knows where to find them…

That was enough dialogue for a few pages – he had to get into some fast, red-hot action.There weren’t any more hitches now. The story flowed like a torrent. The margin bell chimed almost staccato,...

Inside the room there sat a rocker, which she sat on, and which had rocked her while she sipped the beer, because in spite of herself she had become so giddy to have so quickly...

To be stories at all they must be a series of events: but it must be understood that this series – the plot, as we call it – is only really a new whereby to...

I was slightly thankful when Mom finally came out and unlocked the car. It was warm and toasty inside and it smelt like home. There was not the slightest smell of something that didn’t belong...

Expand your world. (Stories about wizards and spells) are very frequently about power relationships…

Fiction must convince our bodies for it to have any chance of convincing our minds.

She opened her eyes and looked into his rather intensely. “What?” Alex asked. “This cannot be.” “What can’t be?” Alex asked her, more bafflement in his voice this time. “I have been reading people all...

Writing is a solitary business. It’s just you and your characters and a blank page you need to fill.

The table was covered with food like roast chicken, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, roast turkey, roast liquorice and, the centrepiece, a roasted knight.

And yet it was also true that the tumor could not be removed by our doctor, and as a result of that a strange medication had been given him that enabled my brother to become...

Misunderstandings arise only in undefined relationships

The other one was filled with loud and obnoxious tourists. Always boasting on winning a sand castle competition and seeing who could get tanned first. What a whacky bunch of people.

If she was going to write a novel, she felt defeated before she began, because someone might be coming along to pick it apart, looking for symbols like The Conch or The Whale, which seemed...

The vital power of an imaginative work demands a diversity within its unity; and the stronger the diversity the more massive the unity.

Danilo’s was the kind of place where many drinking men come to hide, be it from their wives, in-laws, their jobs or life in general. it was where men and women can come to drink...

I long for some connection, to the real and those who love them, and hope that my fiction can reach beyond the veil, that I might touch someone and make them feel something…or something.

An artist has an obligation to tell the truth. My novels are epic fantasy, but they are inspired by and grounded in history. Rape and sexual violence have been a part of every war ever...

Inside a wool jacket the man had made a pocket for the treasure and from time to time he would jiggle the pocket, just to make sure that it was still there. And when on...

There’s so much to learn. So much to enjoy. So terribly much to be curious about. Take your life and run with it. Make a habit of being alive. This much of anything, I have...

He sent it flying at full speed. It jumped six times as well, sending ripples across the sea. The small splashes of foam turned into miniature rainbows as they caught the light of the evening...

A related question is where in time to begin. Should you begin far back in a character’s past and move forward, or should you begin in the present and make use of flashbacks only where...

Basically, if the author is totally un-educated, then the text won’t bring out his best. Normal, educated people always understand that. But here’s the thing—when the author is very highly-educated, the result is the same:...

For his lunch break, Alex decided to sit outside for a smoke. There was no break room to speak of, just a backdoor that led to a neglected parking lot and an old payphone. There...

If you haven’t cried at least once while writing a chapter of your inspirational book, then you have to ask yourself if your’re writing fiction.

I knew that it was impossible for us to be kept apart for too long.

You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.

Perhaps the critics are right: this generation may not produce literature equal to that of any past generation–who cares? The writer will be dead before anyone can judge him–but he must go on writing, reflecting...

Have you lost your mind? What have I told you Charlie about whales? You can’t MANHANDLE THEM!

All writers struggle at some point with the problem of balance between authority and involvement, seduction and revelation. Specifically, beginning writers wonder how much description to employ, and more advanced writers ask how much plot...

The trouble with writing fiction is that it has to make sense, whereas real life doesn’t.

This whole show vs tell concept both bewilders and challenges my mind.