If I can tell you the story from beginning to end in five minutes, I'm ready to start writing.

You can't take a character anywhere they don't expect the character to go. But within those confines is where creativity lies

The bigger the issue, the smaller you write.

The first thing to look out for after your first big success are drugs and screenplays.

I do small cameos here and there but nothing that requires more than a paragraph of talking, because I'm just an amateur. The movie is a whole different reality.

I don't write police stories, per se, but I usually write about areas that are very panoramic, like Harlem, or the Lower East Side, or a small urban city like Jersey City.

I think the definition of an artist is not necessarily tied into excellence or talent; an artist is somebody who, if you took away their freedom to make art, would lose their mind.