For the years I spent working on it, 'Constellation' was the only novel I knew how to write, so maybe I still abided by the maxim? Regardless, I prefer the maxim: Write what you want to know, rather than what you already know.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
After writing a novel, what is there to say? If a novelist could say it in a maxim, they wouldn't need 120,000 words, several years and sundry characters, plots and subplots, and so on. I'd much rather listen always.
Having reached the halfway mark in the alphabet, my prime focus is on writing each new book as well as I can.
Be able to recognize many of the major constellations and know the stories behind them.
You're a reader as well as a writer, so write what you'd want to read.
Usually I decide on what it is I'm writing next by the books I'm reading.
When I write a book, I'm making it the best book I can.
I much prefer a plotted novel to a novel that is really conceptual.
To make it interesting and worth doing, writing a novel has to be a leap into the unknown. I have to be unsure if I can write it; otherwise, I won't want to.
I always work from an outline, so I know all the of the broad events and some of the finer details before I begin writing the book.
You write about what you know, and you write about what you want to know.