Madame Bovary, C'est Moi : The Great Characters of Literature and Where They Came From
André Bernard

[Rex] Stout knew nothing of law or crime when he began to write about Nero Wolfe, nor did he pursue any research. He liked to tell aspiring writers that the best method for successful writing was, "Apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair, and go."

My tuches would go numb before I could compose a single interesting sentence.