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

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

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

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

Not dreams but night changes, not destiny but path changes, always keep your hopes alive, luck may or may not change, but time definitely chages.

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.

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.