I have the heart of a small boy. It is in a glass jar on my desk.

Stephen King

When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.

Raymond Chandler

One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones.

Stephen King

We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images.

John Gardner

Thank your readers and the critics who praise you, and then ignore them. Write for the most intelligent, wittiest, wisest audience in the universe: Write to please yourself. 


Harlan Ellison