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.

I hated childhood, and spent it sitting behind a book waiting for adulthood to arrive.

I wonder how many times we dream that kind of dream-something strange and illogical-and fail to realize God is trying to tell us something.

...he thought of dying as a kind of adventure, something new that he hadn't yet experienced. Like an unusual vacation trip.

Something was wrong with a world where people came and went so easily.

I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.

People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have.