Every novel ever written, from the most ancient epic poems to today’s new releases, is as much a historical document as it is a work of fiction. Because novels are written by humans, and humans—all humans—are in various ways products of their time and cultures, the culture of the time in which that novel is written will shine through. Or, depending on how you feel ab...

I promise you I will improve; I will no longer, as has ever been my habit, continue to ruminate on every petty vexation which fortune may dispense; I will enjoy the present, and the past shall be for me the past.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther

You don’t have to be on social media of any kind, ever. It simply is not...

One is frequently asked whether the [writing] process becomes easier with the passage of time, and the reply is obvious—Nothing gets easier with the passage of time, not even the passing of time.

—Joyce Carol Oates

True… at least to a certain extent.

It’s long been held as a truism that our creativity declines with age, and as Ms. Oates would s...

In Every Man for Himself and God Against All, filmmaker Werner Herzog wrote:

Then in one of the Dr. Fu Manchu films, I noticed something the others hadn’t seen. In an exchange between goodies and baddies, one egregious villain on Dr. Fu Manchu’s side was picked off ...

In The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin wrote:

Patience is required for the nuanced development of your craft.

Patience is required for taking in information in the most faithful way possible.

Patience is required for crafting a work that reso...