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

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.

I'm always telling myself as I write that I'm not really writing a novel; I'm just going to fool around with a character or an idea.

It's amazing that the heart makes no noise when it cracks.

Writing, even though it's hard work, is really a joy when you get these characters to come alive. It's hard to trace where they come from. I can't say that I am sitting here one night at nine o'clock and that a character occurs to me. The magic for me happens at the typewriter.

You hope that people read your book and say "Yes, this is the way it is or could be." But then you have no way of knowing until the reader reads the book. Actually, the critical response doesn't worry me. I've had very few reviews that have upset me.

Cities fell. Earth opened. Planets tilted. Stars plummeted. And the awful silence.