Most books about writing are filled with bullshit. Fiction writers, present company included, don’t understand very much about what they do—not why it works when it’s good, not why it doesn’t when it’s bad.

“Everybody knows that, for such an unforgiving thing, time is uniquely malleable.”

“A large praying mantis was performing ablutions on the springy stem of the kid'…”

“or to lick along the smooth velvet lining of a woman's mouth with his tongue.”

“Give me what I want and I will go away”