"The writing I value most is writing that cost the writer more than minutes to get on the page. Which..."

“The writing I value most is writing that cost the writer more than minutes to get on the page. Which is to say that something serious, possibly dangerous, is in the balance. By contrast, I’ve no patience with the self-consciously clever, the self-indulgent, or the cute. I expect to be told whom to root for, what the dang-blasted trouble is—I’m channeling Miss Welty here. I’ve no tolerance for the unclear or the needlessly ambiguous. I do expect the writer to use all the tools in the toolbox—description, indirect dialogue, interior monologue, and the like. I want form to be meaningful—nothing arbitrary, in other words, about the “choices.” I want the writer to exploit all the resources unique to language itself. No tricks for their own sake. Don’t withhold vital information. Endings should be inevitable, not fortuitous. Plot should arise out of character. Climax should be obvious and not given short shrift. Please, nothing precious. Nor anything arty-farty.”

- Lee K. Abbott, in an interview I conducted in 2007