Action is the pulse of any good story, but the character is the heart. If the action has no consequence to the character, the story loses heart.

Una novela no es buena ni por su contenido ni por como lo cuenta -dos supersticiones-, sino porque su alquimia resultó permanente sin que el autor lo mereciera. No se explica, no tiene fórmula, es pura voluntad de existencia, pulsión de vida

As a general rule, I surmise that most fictional stories are populated by misfits, changelings, and oddities, which is what makes the writing interesting and considered novel.

My job as a writer is simple.
Write a book I’m proud of,
and present it as a gift to the world.
Some will love it.
Some will hate it.
That’s the nature of art.

Bad writing is more than a matter of shit syntax and faulty observation; bad writing usually arises from a stubborn refusal to tell stories about what people actually do― to face the fact, let us say, that murderers sometimes help old ladies cross the street.

Novels give you the matrix of emotions, give you the flavour of a time in a way formal history cannot.