I don't want to be separate from something that's important to me.

A notion for a story is for me a confluence of real events, historical perhaps, or from my own memory to create an exciting fusion.

I was brought up, as a lot of kids are, on 'Aesop's Fables,' 'Brothers Grimm,' 'La Fontaine,' all those sorts of things. Hans Christian Andersen is a hero of mine.

Blind terror drove me on, with my flying stirrups whipping me into a frenzy. With no rider to carry I reached the kneeling riflemen first and they scattered as I came upon them.

Always write your ideas down however silly or trivial they might seem. Keep a notebook with you at all times.

Don't worry about writing a book or getting famous or making money. Just lead an interesting life.

Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.