When I'm composing a scene for the first time, I try to imitate my character. The less critical distance the better - particularly when they're acting badly.

When I read a book I liked, I would get a pen and one of my father's legal pads and rewrite it from memory as if I had thought of it myself. It was a clear sign that I wanted to be involved in writing, even if it was just pretend at that point.

More than periods where I don't write anything, I have periods where I just write junk and I know I'm writing junk but I can't stop.

In order to describe a particular subculture, you might want to portray people who are typical or representative of that subculture; but to dramatize it, to make it an interesting setting for a story, you want to bring someone anomalous into that setting, to see how she conforms to it, and it to her.