History Isn't A Seesaw. If You Have

Writing Has To Do With Truth-telling. When You're Writing, Let's Say, An Essay For A Magazine, You Try To Tell The Truth At Every Moment. You Do Your Best To Quote People Accurately And Get Everything Right. Writing A Novel Is A Break From That: Freedom. When You're Writing A Novel, You Are In Charge; You Can Beef Things Up.

There Is No Good Word For Stomach; Just As There Is No Good Word For Girlfriend. Stomach Is To Girlfriend As Belly Is To Lover, And As Abdomen Is To Consort, And As Middle Is To Petite Amie.

I Did Not Know That The Planning For Biological And Chemical Warfare Was So Widespread In England, And Even In France Before France Fell. It Was News To Me That There Had Been Talk, Even In The First World War, Of Dropping Colorado Beetles On German Potato Crops And That Kind Of Thing.

Each Decision - To Kill, To Sign A Petition, To Write A Letter, To Make A Speech, To Attack, To Lie, To Surrender - Was Made At Some Point In Somebody's Day.

In The Novel, I Can Change Things And Simplify, And Make Events Work Towards Whatever Meanings I'm Trying To Get At More Efficiently.