E L Doctorow passes away at 84

 E.L. Doctorow, one of America's most accomplished novelists of recent decades who was best known for his historical fiction, died Tuesday at the age of 84

"Writing teachers invariably tell students, Write about what you know. That’s, of course, what you have to do, but on the other hand, how do you know what you know until you’ve written it? Writing is knowing. What did Kafka know? The insurance business? So that kind of advice is foolish, because it presumes that you have to go out to a war to be able to do war. Well, some do and some don’t. I’ve had very little experience in my life. In fact, I try to avoid experience if I can. Most experience is bad."

--Excerpt from a Paris Review interview (1986)