I had my bully, and it was excruciating. Not only the bully, but the intimidation I felt.

...pain reaches a certain point and does not get worse but remains in all its intensity and you can survive it.

A new sickness invaded Jerry, the sickness of knowing what he had become, another animal, another beast, another violent person in a violent world, inflicting damage, not disturbing the universe but damaging it.

I don't think I began to be a professional writer until I learned my weaknesses and what I couldn't do. This forced me to compensate.

I use a lot of similes and metaphors when I work, simply because it's my best way of describing a building or a scene. I'm terrible at describing landscapes - trees, buildings. The inanimate things don't interest me: I always think, "Oh, no, here comes another building I have to describe." So I usually use a simile or metaphor.

They don't actually want you to do your own thing, not unless it's their thing too.

Family life was wonderful. The streets were bleak. The playgrounds were bleak. But home was always warm. My mother and father had a great relationship. I always felt 'safe' there.