We are herding the young in that direction so that they are not sitting still and contemplating, Goddamn it, a page of exquisite prose by Charles Dickens, which is filled with rage about poverty and the need of a household to survive. That's not in the table for consideration now. And people don't understand that beautiful rage of Dickens because they don't share it. They haven't got time to worry about an oppressed culture, a subclass.

When you are writing a character, what the character says is obviously crucial. But what the character doesn't say is absolutely as important as his words.

What I try to do is read stuff that won't deal with the dangerous dark things I hope I am writing about.

Never use 'submit' as a verb for sending work to magazine or book publishers; say 'offer,' and never, ever submit. Keep your knees unbent. Be brave.

The importance to the world of what we scribblers write is in doubt, I would think.

Nonfiction, for the most part, is facts, and it's "how I was mistreated. I was mistreated. Were you mistreated? Weren't we all mistreated?"

I love thrillers. I would even read certain science fiction, although I haven't been a devotee for many years.