it’s an art, not a science

It's always about execution

"It's always about execution. If I told you that I was going to write a story about a man who wakes up and finds he has turned into a beetle, there's a good chance you'd think it was a stupid idea. But Kafka has the power to make that not only a good story, but one that's actually shaped the way we think about short stories. ... Part of the answer is something about conviction, something about summoning the authority."

The View from the Cheap Seats

Art Does Not Come from Ideas

"Please get out of the habit of saying that you’ve got an idea for a short story. Art does not come from ideas. Art does not come from the mind. Art comes from the place where you dream. Art comes from your unconscious; it comes from the white-hot center of you."

We don't own [language]

"We don't own [language].  We walk around pretending like we do.  We give it order and we grab it and control it and pretend that that's meaning, but it's an arbitrary, free-floating sign system, which means any other group of people could grab it differently and order it differently and make a different meaning.  It's like the ocean in that way.  You can't grab the ocean."

Mother Nature is the best creator of metaphor