If my mother were to haunt me from the next world (which would be a surprise because she is alive), I know what her incantation would be.

For years, critics kept telling me my stories didn’t have enough conflict. Reviewers would write, “Your characters have it too easy.”

I believe that happiness is governed by the following two-part principle.

People nowadays are spending more hours playing video games than watching TV. Women are catching up with men on video gaming hours.

If you want your young children to learn to write well, encourage them to draw.

Recently my mother asked me, “What is calculus?” After recovering from shock, my response to her was, “Asking that question was a mistake.

There is a welling in my chest every time I see a sunrise. It is a mixture of awe, anticipation, optimism, solitude, and gratitude.

Every author has what literary experts call voice. It took me years to realize that voice simply meant the author's unique writing style.

As you write every sentence of your story, read each one aloud and ask yourself, “Is this sentence easy to read, and is it enjoyable?”

I've noticed throughout my study of literature that sidekicks and supporting characters are more interesting than their main counterparts.

People across all social and economic levels of society are becoming less respectful.

Pieces of your themes must be touched upon repeatedly—wiggled—so your readers will keep in their minds the central messages of your tale.

Before you can successfully break a grammatical or well-established rule of fiction, you must first master the rule.

I’m about to give you a great truth. When you read it, you’ll be disappointed.

There are three principles you need to know to interpret your sleeping dreams:

The subject of characterization has brought me stress for many years because everyone has a different idea of what characterization means.

Some of the most devoted, patient, and intelligent adults make terrible parents.

If you're trying to loose weight, you'll be happy to know your brain consumes about 20% of your daily input of calories.

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

My wife buys socks for me. In fact, I have three brands of white socks in my sock drawer.

Self-hypnosis is so natural and commonplace that everyone passes through the state at least twice every day.

I’ve read hundreds of websites and more than twenty books meant to help authors write novels. Most of them didn’t help me.

Gertrude Stein famously wrote, “The artist’s job is not to succumb to despair, but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.”

Your life will be benefited by a good understanding of these three curves.