Butler

"Once you have that link to your character's yearning, only then does the real work of literary fiction begin."
a.) this seems like sage advice
b.) it seems like sage advice, for literary fiction writers, that is, there it is, Butler is fully admitting that this is what he's talking about, writing literary fiction. And yes, he's a snob who looks down on "genre" fiction like romance and sci-fi/fantasy, etc., but his advice will let your (if that's what you want to write, those of you whom I think of as wanting to write) "genre" work rise, like Kelly Link's, above it's little "genre" ghetto and be thought of as literature, and what writer doesn't want her/his work to be thought of as great literature? None that I know. Stephen King may like making the money, but he wants to be thought of as a serious and talented writer, I'm guessing, more than anything else in the world.
(The photo is of Robert Lax, poet, who went from NYC success to a hermetic life on a Greek island. For too long, I thought that this is what you had to look like to be a "real" writer, more or less.)

Yes, those of you who've somehow heard, I will be reading for about 15 minutes at Amherst Books this Friday, along with two colleagues. Show starts at 8.