For the novels I wrote before selling anything, I didn't outline much. I had a vague idea of the story.
Usually when I read something, first of all I'm looking for the story and then when I reread it, I'm sort of checking every part of it to see if every scene is necessary.
My favorite author is Anton Chekhov, not so much for the plays but for his short stories, and I think he was really my tutor.
When you mimic everyone, sometimes authority figures really don't appreciate it which is not an original story. And pretty much every comedian has some tale of that.
Because Lincoln is so closely identified with what it is to be American, everyone wants to claim him, to rewrite his story to satisfy their own particular needs.
Sometimes you have to go places with characters and emotions within yourself you don't want to do, but you have a duty to the story and as a storyteller to do it.
I was born an only child in Vienna, Austria. My father found hours to sit by me by the library fire and tell fairy stories.
When I start to write, I don't have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.
I have not lost any of my crazy, fearless, raw, soulful, eclectic side and I plan on continuing to tell universal stories in an unforgettable way.
If I told you about all the stories I don't tell, I would be violating the very boundaries I set for myself.
I believe every one of us possesses a fundamental right to tell our own story.
The fun of the Super Bowl is the week leading into it; once it's actually played, the story dies down very, very quickly.
I just completed The Tenth Circle. It is an excellent mystery story surrounding a family with modern day issues.
I'm pretty disciplined to keep the momentum of a story going by writing everyday, even if it's only a couple paragraphs or a page or two.
At first, I did stories on people who were maybe just eccentric. Omar was a natural progression from that.
Obviously, I like to write stories that are page-turners. But I always try my very, very hardest to be as factually true as possible.
I think I'm different from a lot of singer-songwriters because some of my favorite singer-songwriters told stories. Like John Prine.
Of course, I'm drawn to a place like Iraq because It's the biggest story of our generation.
If I'm successful in fooling a wire service, I don't really have to do anything else to promote the story.
I find that children have very little trouble understanding non-literal stories.
Most publishers seem very reluctant to publish short story collections at all; they bring them out in paperback, often disguised as novels.
