Then there was Clark Ashton Smith, who wrote for Weird Tales and who had a wild imagination. He wasn't a very talented writer, but his imagination was wonderful.

There was a writer in the '20s called Christopher Morley, who I remember a little bit of, who had some influence on me, but I couldn't tell you what it was.

I worked for half a cent a word. I'm not a fast writer to begin with, so for the first few years I had do other things.

So I'll write it, and then I'll find out that I actually wrote something that is utterly useless. You can't use it in the story and it doesn't fit. So I just throw it away. I've done that countless times.

I just wrote what I felt like writing since they seemed to sell.

A reader is not supposed to be aware that someone's written the story. He's supposed to be completely immersed, submerged in the environment.