Octavia Butler was more interested in writing a good story than in worrying about where to slot it.

I'm a storyteller, not a prophet. I'm just interested in a good story.

Octavia Butler often described herself as an outsider, but within science fiction, she was loved as an insider, someone who was a fan first and came to S.F. writing as an enthusiastic reader.

A good story, just like a good sentence, does more than one job at once. That's what literature is: a story that does more than tell a story, a story that manages to reflect in some way the multilayered texture of life itself.

A good story can travel in time and borders; it hits you no matter where you are.

I read my books to writing workshops and friends, and I'm often focussed just on keeping them entertained. I never think about marketing at all.