Living gives you a better understanding of life. I would hope that my characters have become deeper and more rounded personalities. Wider travels have given me considerably greater insight into how cultural differences affect not only people, but politics and art.

The universe is full of dead people who lived by assumption.

How much research I have to do depends on the nature of the story. For fantasy, none at all.

Don't try to write to the trend of the moment.

I see the Jedi mission as giving up a normal life in exchange for protecting the innocent. It's a life of sacrifice. There are rewards, but also a certain degree of sterility.

We're all nothing but unified arrangements of atoms and particles, drifting around, enjoying consciousness every now and then for a second or so before splitting up to become bits and pieces of trees and stars and french fries.

I write early in the morning, usually after reading portions of at least half a dozen newspapers on the web.