Painters aren't expected to paint bleak pictures, are they?

Daughters could survive a powerful mother, but boys found it almost impossible. Such boys were often severely damaged and spent the rest of their lives running away from their mothers, or from anybody who remotely reminded them of their mothers; either that, or they became their mothers, in a desperate, misguided act of psychological self defence.

As a writer I've learned certain lessons. One of them is to be careful about how you put a view, and to bear in mind how easily and readily you'll be misinterpreted.

Every novel presents a slice of life. A noir policier for example presents one slice, one that perhaps addresses social dysfunction or some sort of pathology, while mine present a slice that is more upbeat and affirmative.

As a writer, you have to realize that people want to like the characters, so you have to be careful to keep them involved.

The telling of a story, like virtually everything in this life, was always made all the easier by a cup of tea.

Manners are the basic building blocks of civil society.