I’m asked every day for pointers on fiction writing. Here goes: the first thing you have to do as a writer is write. You become the writer of your dreams by writing. Write, write, write. You aren’t a writer until you write, and all the pondering, considering, asking for career advice doesn’t matter until you actually write. Write what interests you, what obsesses you, and not what you think might interest or obsess some one else. Protect your own voice, your own vision, your own characters, your own stories. Go where the pain is; go where the pleasure is. Create the book you want to read, the book you want to live in; the book you love. And then be stubborn. Never cave to rejection or criticism. Just keep going until you find those who “get” what you are doing; and make yourself into the writer you want to be. Ponder the absolute value of individual imagination, individual eccentricity, individual discovery and surprise. And remember: the world needs you. If you don’t write the classics of tomorrow, we won’t have any.