First-book novelists and storywriters haven't yet failed and so it's easier to publish them - you can gamble on a success. Whereas someone who has written four books that are highly literary and demanding and require you as a reader. They may not be republished.

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

When I am writing a novel I try not to read great prose stylists into which I will fall.

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.

I'm not a philosopher. I am the next thing to a jock, which is a novelist.

First-book novelists and storywriters haven't yet failed and so it's easier to publish them - you can gamble on a success. Whereas someone who has written four books that are highly literary and demanding and require you as a reader. They may not be republished.

I have found myself writing poetry shortly after I retired. Which I hadn't done in forty years.