Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're ­Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. You don't want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.

The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

I don't believe in writer's block or waiting for inspiration. If you're a writer, you sit down and write.

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 judge in my books. I don't have to have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It's just how it comes out. I'm just telling a story.

If you take a few days to write an outline, you're just making up scenes that you think will work, that you think will be interesting. But as you write it, other ideas occur - better ideas that have to do with what you're writing.

It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.