I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get

I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage.

The very thing that attracts you to someone can end up putting you off.

There is no sound more peaceful than rain on the roof, if you're safe asleep in someone else's house.

For my own family, I would always choose the makeshift, surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood.

The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning

The first-person viewpoint is more enjoyable to write, because it lets me meander more freely, and it can reveal more of the character's self-delusions. Really all the advantages are with first-person, so I'm sorry I don't get to pick and choose.