Well, I have an idea, usually a visual image of some sort. A setting. A particular, I don't know, urban scene, a particular time of day. Something that grips my imagination for some reason.

I'm for open-mindedness and tolerance. I'm against any form of fanaticism, fundamentalism or zealotry, and this certainty of 'We have the truth.' The truth is far too large and complex. Nobody has the truth.

I am a religious person, although I am not a believer.

I had passed through the entire British education system studying literature, culminating in three years of reading English at Oxford, and they'd never told me about something as basic as the importance of point of view in fiction!

We need to ensure that children are not forced to waste their time on barren rubbish.

For a human being, nothing comes naturally,' said Grumman. 'We have to learn everything we do.

I don't know where my ideas come from, but I know where they come to. They come to my desk, and if I'm not there, they go away again.