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

The more I hung out with detective squads, the more there was always one guy or two guys or a woman who had a case that they were the primary on years ago, it was never solved, and they take that case into their retirements.

Writers spend three years rearranging 26 letters of the alphabet. It's enough to make you lose your mind day by day

You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying in the road.

The bigger the issue, the smaller you write.

Beat him, eat him and get out.

The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off the resonance.