I think fiction is a very serious thing, that while it is fiction, it is also a revelation of truth, or facts.

When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if I could bring that private world to life that found its first expression through reading. I really dislike the romantic notion of the artist.

I used to take five or six books away and bring five or six books back. Nobody gave me direction or advice and I read much in the way that a boy might watch television.

I'd much prefer to write more quickly.

Yes, though I have nothing but gratitude for my upbringing in the church.

I love the description of Gothic churches before the printed word, that they were the bibles of the poor.

I feel I grew up in a different century than I live in. I think most of them are changes for the good.