Building Quote by David Crabb

I like to start with the first chapter, end with chapter 40. No flashbacks, nothing fancy, just a direct storytelling.

— John Grisham

After I finish writing a chapter, I'll print it out, cut it up into paragraphs, and cut away any transition sentences. Then I shuffle…

— Erik Larson

Conventional forms of narrative allow for different points of view, but for this book I wanted a structure whereby each of the main characters…

— Penelope Lively

In writing a series of stories about the same characters, plan the whole series in advance in some detail, to avoid contradictions and inconsistencies.

— L. Sprague de Camp

Creating one single story often requires experimenting and planning and falling on your literary rear more than once before you find the way that…

— Nancy Lam

“In writing short stories—as in writing novels—take one thing at a time. (For some writers, this advice I'm giving may apply best to a…

— John Gardner

I don't always write in order, so composing multi-book stories could get complicated.

— Erin Morgenstern

With my students, I don't offer any simple tips like that, maybe because my own process is pretty messy, but when we workshop we…

— Edan Lepucki

I love writing two narratives! I think concurrent storylines are my favorite way to write a book.

— Taylor Jenkins Reid

My stories are very compact. I want them to say the most complex things in the simplest way.

— Etgar Keret

I always write too long in the beginning, then it is a matter of going through it over and over again on subsequent drafts,…

— Chevy Stevens

I always plan the whole story in some detail, long before I start writing the actual thing. But even doing that, I find that…

— Raymond Buckland