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.

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 could believe only in the hell I was living in, a hell on earth, and it was man-made, not God-made.

Any story you write about war, or film you make about war, is bound to be political whether you like it or not.

Live an interesting life. Meet people. Read a lot and widely, learn from the great writers

What's really good is that there are people making stories and writing them and the vast majority never see the light of day and it doesn't matter a fig.

It's good to focus on the universal suffering that goes on in any war. Whatever the right and wrongs of the war, there is always universal suffering.