First your parents, they give you your life, but then they try to give you their life.

The only thing I shy away from is non-consensual violence. I can't write a story where someone is a simple victim because it's boring.

The only person we'll hate more than each other is ourselves.

A baby is such a blank slate, like training the understudy for a role you're planning to leave. You truly hope your replacement will do the play justice, but in secret you want future critics to say you played the character better.

My books do have a sort of romantic community at the end - people coming together. But on a more basic level, I always see them as being about power, in the same way that Harry Potter books are pitched to a population of young people who really have no power.

Alternating the thoughtful task of writing with the mindless work of laundry or dish washing will give you the breaks you need for new ideas and insights to occur. If you don't know what comes next in the story... clean your toilet. Change the bed sheets. For Christ sakes, dust the computer. A better idea will come.

You’re training a new employee,' says Mrs. Clark, 'to take over your boring old job.' When you raise a child.