We're always inventing, even if we're making someone who's fairly close to ourselves.

I just like doing it, I like writing.

Whoever would write books? It's suffering as well as greatly satisfying. And certainly there's suffering in the sense that you don't know for a long time how to do it.

I love it when people can help me with my work, so I do show it.

I think a day in your life on which nothing bad happens may be a wonderful day, but it probably isn't going to be the basis of a story.

Writers sometimes are paid a great deal of money, but much more frequently they're not paid or are paid only a little bit.

I began to see, again and again, stories that were first confusing and second where the emotional impact was muted because the big scene came before the explanation of what was going on. There was a reverse chronological order as well as a concealment of what exactly was going on. I think often that comes out of the fear of being boring, and sometimes I think it's just an attempt to seem clever.