The way of creating believable characters is not by conforming to a set of PC rules.

And I go out of Father's house and I walk down the street, and it is very quiet even thought it is the middle of the day and I can't hear any noise except birds singing and wind and sometimes buildings falling down in the distance, and if I stand very close to traffic lights I can hear a little click as the colors change.

My book has a very simple surface, but there are layers of irony and paradox all the way through it.

As to the number of novels I've abandoned... I shudder to think. I have thrown away five completed novels, and that's a gruesome enough figure. But not necessarily a waste of effort.

From a good book, I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness.

The one thing you have to do if you write a book is put yourself in someone else's shoes. The reader's shoes. You've got to entertain them.

I could invent another world. I'm not terribly keen on this one.