There's an expectation these days that novels - like any other consumer product - should be made on a production line, with one dropping from the conveyor belt every couple of years.

To really be centered and to really work well and to think about the kinds of things that I need to think about, I need to spend large amounts of time alone.

I'd rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones.

Storytelling and elegant style don't always go hand in hand.

Any action, in the fullness of time, sinks to nothingness.

Even if you need, and want, a second opinion, it can be dangerous to have people telling you what they think you ought to add, or cut, before you've even finished telling your story. One loses heart; one loses energy and interest. Or at least I do.

Children - if you think back really what it was like to be a child and what it was like to know other children - children lie all the time