"When you were a little kid, you probably read a picture book with a title like The Jobs People Do...."

“When you were a little kid, you probably read a picture book with a title like The Jobs People Do. And the jobs were teacher, doctor, police officer, and the guy who sells you ice cream. But out here in the real world there are also chicken sexers, forensic accountants, perfume designers, and thousands of other professions you’ve never heard of. The real world is full of gnarly details, and whenever you think you have a handle on how complex something is, it just gets gnarlier.


This inherent gnarliness of things is an opportunity. When your writing starts to run out of steam, dare to ask, “Where is my novel too simple?””

- Scott Westerfeld, on writing complexity into your stories.