The monsters demand less of you as a writer because they're probably closer to who you are.

The monsters demand less of you as a writer because they're probably closer to who you are.

I had some bad jobs when I was young. Writing is not one of them. If you're fortunate enough to reach my age, to still be writing, you have to be grateful, and I am. I've been lucky. For many years, all I've done is writing, and it's all I've ever wanted to do.

A writer has to stand outside the page. It's not for the writer to shed tears onto the pages for these characters. It's not for him to suffer or to laugh or to experience ecstasy or agony in the manner of the characters on the pages.

I do feel like a fraud a lot of the time because I've never been interested in people who say 'I'm a writer', 'I'm an artist'. Too much is made of the role and not enough of the work. We are such a celebrity-driven age and a status-driven age, that the status becomes more important than the actual work.

You have to attempt to find new forms that will force you to write freshly and better and hopefully more truthfully.

A good book ... leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul.