He had been granted his life's wish-but conditionally.

I like reading history, and actually most authors enjoy the research part because it is, after all, easier than writing.

I wanted to be some kind of captain of industry. Then I wanted to be in advertising, and then I wanted to be a newspaper reporter.

I want to tell a story that makes the reader always want to see what will happen next.

Trusting someone was like holding a little water in your cupped hands - it was so easy to spill the water, and you could never get it back.

We all now tell stories by cutting from one dramatic scene to the next, whereas Victorian novelists felt free to write long passages of undramatic summary.

Everybody takes what they life from the teachings of the church, and ignores the parts that don't suit them.