But Ship Who Sang remains my favorite story. I really rocked folks with that and still cannot read it aloud myself without weeping at the end.

I think writers need windows on a view to remind them that a whole world is out there, not the minutiae with which they might be dealing on a close scale.

People have freaked out when I tell them that my dragons are scientifically based… what else can you call a genetically engineered life form?

I do outlines when I’m writing with someone, but they also need to have a certain amount of freedom

A good story is a good story no matter who wrote it.

The thing is, emotion – if it’s visibly felt by the writer – will go through all the processes it takes to publish a story and still hit the reader right in the gut. But you have to really mean it.

I have my good days and my bad days, but I don’t have as much energy as I used to back when I was young and foolish and didn’t count the cost – and it takes a lot – to write.

Mostly I’m telling people that they don’t have to be victims

Writing has been so much a part of my life that I’m really quite annoyed that I can’t do as much as I used to.

Make no judgments where you have no compassion.

Fear has its uses but cowardice has none.

James Blish told me I had the worst case of “said bookism” (that is, using every word except said to indicate dialogue). He told me to limit the verbs to said, replied, asked, and answered and only when absolutely necessary.

But I will say that living in Ireland has changed the cadence and fullness of speech, since the Irish love words and use as many of them in a sentence as possible.

I would recommend the short story form, which is a lot harder to write since you have to be so careful with words, until there is plenty of time to doodle through a novel.

At age 77, I need the help of someone with more energy than I can now summon to finish a book.

How much can a dragon carry?
As much as it thinks it can

I have a shelf of comfort books, which I read when the world closes in on me or something untoward happens

What I used to do between writing fits was feed my kids, ride my horse and go shopping for cat and dog food.

At age 77, I need the help of someone with more energy than I can now summon to finish a book

But Ship Who Sang remains my favorite story. I really rocked folks with that and still cannot read it aloud myself without weeping at the end

I also don’t have organized religion on Pern. I figured – since there were four holy wars going on at the time of writing – that religion was one problem Pern didn’t need.

I have written my own screen version of Pern, but had no buyers yet.

I’m very fond of the Talent series, and also the Crystal Singer trio.

Tell a story! Don’t try to impress your reader with style or vocabulary or neatly turned phrases. Tell the story first!

That’s such a thrill – a story I wrote at the beginning of my career, and it’s still packin’ the house.

Living is struggling to do something impossible;
To succeed or die, knowing that you had tried.

I have always used emotion as a writing tool. That goes back to me being on the stage.

I do outlines when I’m writing with someone, but they also need to have a certain amount of freedom.

I did not have a chance to write novels until my youngest child started school fulltime.

Above us, outlined against the brilliant sky, dragons crowded every available perching space on the Rim. And the sun made a gold of every one of them.