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 don't really like to tell people to get out drugs.

You can't tell a writer they should just be more confident.

I think we need to develop the courage to write from the viewpoint of people who may seem quite different from ourselves, who might have a different sexual orientation or a different race or a different ethnicity.

You have to write fiction that mirrors the actual world, which has people of all sorts in it.

When an editor first explained to me the difference between direct and indirect writing, I just thought it was a stylistic choice.

I think the difference between writing as someone and writing for them is that when you write for someone, you take on a kind of political burden or message, which I don't think we have the right to do.