You say, "Something important really happened here. I really had hold of something I was visited by the muse." And that's enough to make you continue the months and years to finish the whole book.

While people brood, time skips ahead without looking back.

In fiction writing, I would say there are several different strands that have been woven through my own writing, and each influenced by a different group of writers.

All writers have roots they draw from - travel, work, family. My roots are in science and it is fertile ground for fiction.

When I used to play golf. It's a terrible miserable game. It's incredibly frustrating. In 18 holes you make 150 horrible shots off in the woods, in the water...You make one good shot and it brings you back the next time. With writing a long book there has to be at least one bit that has some magic in it that you can go back to.

In a world in which time is a circle, every handshake, every kiss, every birth, every word, will be repeated precisely.

I wouldn't overall say that "The Diagnosis" is a funny book. I would say that it has comic moments. It's a modern tragedy.