The opposing missions of the various characters create the plot.

To set a forest on fire, you light a match. To set a character on fire, you put him in conflict.

All good plots come from well-orchestrated characters pitted against one another in a conflict of wills.

It is possible to combine a story line and plot line in the same work. Usually the storylines comes first, serving as a background to the plot line, but not always.

When characters have different goals and are intent on achieving them, conflict results. If the stakes are high and both sides are unyielding, you have the makings of high drama.

You will never work through writer's block if you walk away from your typewriter. That will only make it easier to walk away the next time.

For some it is harder to write a novel than to row a bathtub across the North Atlantic.

For some it is harder towrite a novel than to row a bathtub across the North Atlantic.

You cannot write your character until you know how he or she thinks, until you know what their philosophy is in the world that they occupy.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he'll tell you the truth

If stupidity got us into this, why can't stupidity get us out?

We can all reprogram our brain's responses by putting ourselves into new, initially uncomfortable situations. We'll learn fear might not mean 'stop'; I've come to believe fear usually means 'go.

The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leader and followers.

Someone — Cyril Connolly? Ezra Pound? — once said that anything that can be read twice is literature; I would say that anything that bears saying twice is quotable.

Each man lives love in his limited fashion and does not seem to relate the resultant confusion and loneliness to his lack of knowledge about love.

If the people were a little more ignorant, astrology would flourish - if a little more enlightened, religion would perish.

I have visited Tromsø and can personally say Tromsø is a beautiful city, well equipped to be an excellent choice for the Chess Olympiad 2014.

You can not retain a true and clear vision of wealth if you are constantly turning your attention to opposing pictures, whether they be external or imaginary.