It's different being afraid when there's the hope it will amount to something.

It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.

I'm a workmanlike writer. I show up every day and treat it like a job. The old rule that writing is like any other job, the first rule is that you must show up. I'm at the keyboard from 9 to 4 every day.

My theory of characterization is basically this: Put some dirt on a hero, and put some sunshine on the villain, one brush stroke of beauty on the villain.

If you are writing any book about the end of the world, what you are really writing about is what's worth saving about it.

It had never occurred to her that God would cry, but of course that was wrong. God would be crying all the time. He would cry and cry and never stop.

My inventing time is all done under the influence of aerobic exercise. Basically, I do all my thinking while I run.