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.

At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.

I'm not going to write for posterity. I'm going to write to make a buck.

My purpose is to entertain and please myself. I feel that if I am entertained, then there will be enough other readers who will be entertained, too.

A man can be in two different places and he will be two different men. Maybe if you think of more places he will be more men, but two is enough for now.

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

I don't believe in writer's block. I don't know what that is. There are just certain little areas that I know I'm going to get through. It's just a matter of finding a way.