finish things

You Have to Write

"The biggest pitfall to avoid is not writing. Not writing is really, really easy to do, especially if you're a young writer. The hope that elves will come in the night and finish it for you, is a very common one to have. That is my main recommendation. You have to write, and you have to finish what you write and beyond that, it's all detail."

You're Not Going to Remember

"You have to write when you're not 'inspired.' ...And the weird thing is that six months later, or a year later, you're going to look back and you're not going to remember which scenes you wrote when you were inspired and which scenes you wrote because they had to be written."

Best-Selling Author

"I'm occasionally baffled when young writers ask me for advice, and I give it, and then I see comments that say that none of my advice applies because I'm a best-selling author. As if I had spent my whole life as a best-selling author, and had never been anything else..."

You like what you like

make a story out of it

"What felt magic can becomes either undone or overdone when you try to make a story out of it. Especially when you're a story-maker. Neil is. I am. We both are. I watch the story unfold. Sometimes I dictate the story to myself, then sometimes to the world. Sometimes I take dictation. Sometimes I get it wrong."