“A simple one: it has to work orally. In other words, people have to be able to get it hearing it and hearing it only once. Description isn’t usually a good choice. Dialogue or a scene with action works best.”
— Yann Martel, when asked, “What criteria do you use to determine which sections of your book that you present at a public reading?”

Big Think posed the question “How do you deal with bad reviews?” to Yann Martel.

Visit Big Think… there are some interesting interviews with other writers and the like.