I don't want ever to be guilty of what my critics claim: doing formula without original elements.

But one must go where one's road leads, even when it's a distressing road.

Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker series also shows the potential of lighter fantastic fiction. I read the first, and listened to a tape of a later one, and it's fun.

When I started writing this, I found that I simply couldn't take fantasy seriously, so it became humorous, and continued from there.

Polishing: a useful lesson for the hopeful writer. You say your tormented prose doesn't read as well as mine? Neither does mine, at first!

I wish my readers took less of my time - about a third of my working time goes to them - but I love and need them all.

It would be easier to write a novel without reader input, but I feel the fiction is richer for it.