I don't think secrets are a bad thing. I think there's this idea that everything needs to be transparent in order for it to be free.

It is a little out of touch to presume that someone wants to follow your every observation and insight over the course of hundreds of pages without any sort of payoff. That's why writing isn't a one-way street. You have to give something back: an interesting plot, a surprise, a laugh, a moment of tenderness, a mystery for the reader to piece together.

Every time I try to write on vacation, I fail miserably.

There's also something sexual about watching the nubile girl in terror. But you do take on her fear as your own.

I was never afraid on stage. That's where I was the least afraid. I could just do what I do and I had the amplification and the lights.

There is a value to moving more slowly through a story.

I had been going out to Orient for several years.