CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO

Very few editors worry about heresy - their goals are much too commercial, thank goodness.

Art goes into the world unarmed, vulnerable to every quirk of fate, and it must survive only by its power to move men not to destroy it.

Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing.

Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?

Common folk didn't have last names in the 8th and 9th centuries.

Storylines are how characters create the plots involved in their stories.

If they aren't real enough to surprise me, then they aren't real enough to go on the page.

I'm not a good collaborator in general.

I outline fairly extensively because I'm usually dealing with real events. I don't need to give myself as much information as I used to, but I still like to have two pages of outline for every projected 100 pages of manuscript.

I think it is probably more important to attend specialized conventions for a journeyman writer than any other, but it's useful at all stages of a career, if for nothing else, to find out how the industry is working at any given time.

I'm not a good collaborator in general.

Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing.

If they aren't real enough to surprise me, then they aren't real enough to go on the page.

Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?

I outline fairly extensively because I'm usually dealing with real events. I don't need to give myself as much information as I used to, but I still like to have two pages of outline for every projected 100 pages of manuscript.

Very few editors worry about heresy - their goals are much too commercial, thank goodness.

I think it is probably more important to attend specialized conventions for a journeyman writer than any other, but it's useful at all stages of a career, if for nothing else, to find out how the industry is working at any given time.

Common folk didn't have last names in the 8th and 9th centuries.

I ride horseback - arthritic knees permitting - or listen to opera. Sometimes I cook. I used to do needlework, but it's hard on my hands now, so I only do it occasionally, but I like it. And, of course, I read.

Storylines are how characters create the plots involved in their stories.

When you're a mid-list writer, it pays to write fast.

Art goes into the world unarmed, vulnerable to every quirk of fate, and it must survive only by its power to move men not to destroy it.