Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

I think any writer is a fool if he doesn't do it for money. There needs to be some kind of incentive in addition to the project. It all goes together. It's fun to sit there and think of characters and get them into action, then be paid for it. I can't believe it when writers tell me 'I don't want to show my work to anybody'.

Avoid prologues: they can be ­annoying, especially a prologue ­following an introduction that comes after a foreword.

There are cities that get by on their good looks, offer climate and scenery, views of mountains or oceans, rockbound or with palm trees. And there are cities like Detroit that have to work for a living.

I used to be able to write five pages a day, every day, no problem. Now a good day is five or four pages, and that's from 9:30 A.M. until 6 P.M.

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.

I don't get in a position to be frightened. I don't do anything dangerous, and I always pay my bills.