...my Heart May Have Been In It

I Believe That The Writer Should Tell A Story. I Believe In Plot. I Believe In Creating Characters And Suspense.

I Had To See And Feel And Be With The Thing That I Wanted To Write About.

All Writers Write About The Past, And I Try To Make It Come Alive So You Can See What Happened.

Now, About That Mulatto Teacher And Me. There Was No Love There For Each Other. There Was Not Even Respect. We Were Enemies If Anything. He Hated Me, And I Knew It, And He Knew I Knew It. I Didn't Like Him, But I Needed Him, Needed Him To Tell Me Something That None Of The Others Could Or Would.

The Artist Must Be Like A Heart Surgeon. He Must Approach Something With Sympathy, But With A Sort Of Coldness And Work And Work Until He Finds Some Kind Of Perfection In His Work. You Can't Have Blood Splashing All Over The Place. Things Must Be Done Very Cleanly.