You have only so many chances to tell stories. I didn't want to be forever wedded to one form of storytelling when there are so many out there.

What I love is the writing, it's not having written. I like the process of it.

We understand tornadoes scientifically, but it still feels supernatural. The randomness makes it feel supernatural.

I'd worked at a small town newspaper, and I was thinking of all the strange stories that I had seen float through the newsroom in my time there that were dismissed as kind of amusing curiosities. Somehow from that I got to this idea of an eccentric alcoholic who built a lighthouse in the woods.

In terms of characters I wish I had created - just because I haven't dealt with anything like them - I'm really impressed by characters who can endure over time, whether that be a long series run like a Harry Bosch, or a character who endures over generations and continues to please readers: Sherlock Holmes.

I think if you looked at the kind of ebb and flow of supernatural fiction and horror fiction, it does seem to be more popular in times when were hammered over the head daily with threats from all angles, very real threats.

I started writing as soon as I started reading.