I had to wait for a long time before I could support myself with writing. However, being a writer is what I have most wanted to be, from the time I was a child.

Will you still love me when I'm a monster?

I don't want to die, really. I'm interested in what happens next, so I've got to keep on.

New Zealand is the only country I know well enough to write about. It can sometimes lead to complications.

It changes you for ever, but you are changing for ever anyway.

I think I am too interested in my own ideas to copy anyone else's, but I find that other people's imagery, the flow of language in the outside world, games with words, and ideas about relationships are all most important to me.

I was able to work out all sorts of attitudes to style and event and character, all of which affected the way I came to think about my own writing. I believe that all good writers are original.