Wrote my first "novel" when I was six. Studied a bit in college, but then pursued history... But when I started writing professionally, it was mostly learn as you go.

In teaching writing, I'm learning new things about writing.

Guy Gavriel Kays Tigana is, in my opinion, one of the best, if not the best fantasy novel ever written. Its beautifully written, the characters are unforgettable, the worldbuilding is exquisite.

Guy Kay is probably my favorite and the writer I most want to emulate.

Writing about craft has forced me to think more about my own writing technique, and to break down my process in ways that have been enormously helpful to me.

I write every day for most of the work day, and I try to write 2,500 words per day... If I don't make it a routine and treat it like a job, I'd never get anything done.

I listen to instrumental jazz and bluegrass, but aside from my AM workout, I have no rituals.

The closer you can get to your setting and to primary sources, the more authentic your history is going to be.

As I write, invariably I encounter more questions and answer those as I go.

I love magic and playing with magic systems. But to me, good fantasy like all fiction comes down to good character and plotting.

The best writing advice I ever got was "Keep moving forward, don't retreat into rewrites." The worst came from a book that said "Writing fiction is like telling lies," which just seems stupid to me.

I care. They bother me. And that's why I'm stupid. That makes me exponentially more stupid than stupid. I'm stupid to the power of stupid.

Why destroy this Morn, by a Past that is dead & Gone and a Future not yet Born!

The road to home is when we find our hearts filled with the stories of our people.

I'm going to be true to what I want to do, because if I care what people think about me, I'm a puppet. Which I have been in my life. And you can't live life that way, man!

Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.

Knowing more about the public effects his work will have, the engineer ought to consider himself an "officer of the court" and keep the general interest always in mind.

Each generation has a backlash against the generation before.

I'm the best. I just haven't played yet.

I don't like sitting at a keyboard.

It's not for everyone. Some people just haven't got it. Maybe he [Boris Johnson] is one of them.