‘We need to be open to feedback and willing to make changes while also staying true to the story we want to tell. It can be a fine line but one worth walking to create a novel or non-fiction work readers will not be able to put down.’

‘The short story is a literary fragment that insists on immediacy, brevity, intensity. My stories—irrespective of setting—are character-based: a character’s relationship with themselves, with others, and with the world around them.’

‘A novel is an opportunity to do multiple pieces of business. A short story is the perfect opportunity to do one piece of business in a fresh way really well.’

‘Sometimes we resist an idea because it doesn’t feel original or brilliant enough, but it’s only when you commit to it, and spend some time exploring it, that you find your connection, start inhabiting it, and then the magic starts to happen.’