Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

I don't have any of the modern stuff. I don't have e-mail. I don't have a computer!

These are rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story.

I get letters. I get several a week, I think. A lot of people want a picture, a lot of people just want an autograph.

Really, when I write a book I'm the only one I have to please. That's the beauty of writing a book instead of a screenplay.

I'm very much aware in the writing of dialogue, or even in the narrative too, of a rhythm. There has to be a rhythm with it … Interviewers have said, you like jazz, don’t you? Because we can hear it in your writing. And I thought that was a compliment.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.