Hardcover books are fairly expensive these days and to read one requires a significant commitment of time in our busy society. So I want to make sure that when readers buy one of my books they get something they're familiar with.

If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what you want to say

She believed not in divine salvation but in the proposition that we poor mortals are fully capable of saving ourselves, if conditions and inclinations are right, and the evidence of this potential is found in the smallest of gestures, like the uncertain resting of a large hand on a bony shoulder.

In other words, the people who populate my books are more than caricatures.

The best way to learn about writing is to study the work of other writers you admire.

So I work hard to present the human side of my characters while not neglecting the plot.

Collins masterfully blends fact and fiction...transcends the historical thriller.