The best advice on writing I've ever received is to take it seriously, because to do it well is all-consuming.

At one level you're condemned to the voice you have. But within those confines, you have a certain amount of freedom to range among your possible voices.

How could they say that they truly loved each other? They had simply grown up together, been children together, and the proximity of it, the closeness of it, had produced in them love s illusion. And yet - on the other hand - what was love if it wasn't this instinct she felt.

I write because something inner and unconscious forces me to. That is the first compulsion. The second is one of ethical and moral duty. I feel responsible to tell stories that inspire readers to consider more deeply who they are.

He didn't like very many people any more, or very many things either. He preferred not to be this way, but there it was, he was like that. His cynicism, a veteran's cynicism, was a thing that disturbed him all the time.

I have relaxed into my persona as an author, although I used to fight that.

The strange thing was, he wanted to like everyone. He just couldn't find a way to do it.