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I guess when you write a personal story, people feel compelled to share their own stories.

When you're writing personal stories, you have to be totally uncompromising - to the extent that you can be - about yourself. I know that if I am uber-uncompromising with myself, that gives me some latitude to write about others.

You have to figure out who the right person is to tell the story. And often, people who are very self-aware will only sound as if they are pontificating if they tell the story.

I think, as writers, our first responsibility is to writing an honest story. Tell the story you want to tell, without pulling your punches.

Sometimes when you tell a story, you reach a little bit too far just to make the story a better one.

I think the hardest stories we tell are always the ones about ourselves. And as a journalist, I was taught that I'm never supposed to put myself in the story. So I spent what, 11, 12 years of my life writing about other people so I don't have to face my own life.

Depending on the story that you're telling, you can be relatable to everybody or nobody. I try and tell everybody's story.

Everybody's got a different way of telling a story - and has different stories to tell.

If you want somebody to tell you a story, one of the most easiest and effective ways is if you're telling them a story.

The trouble with telling a good story is that it invariably reminds the other fellow of a dull one.