It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.

I get intrigued by a first lin and I write to find out why it means something to me. You make discoveries just the way the reader does, so you're simultaneously the writer and the reader.

The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.

When I'm writing, I like to seal everything off and face the wall, not to look outside the window. The only way out is through the sentences.