I am frightened by today's world, terrified by it. I think that comes out in the books. I'm afraid of big things. Some of these schools have three thousand kids, and even the size of the schools frightens me. Big government frightens me; so does big defense.

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

I have always had a sense that we are all pretty much alone in life, particularly in adolescence.

A writer must take risks, defy the odds, be a bit obsessed and a little mad.

Affection is one of the most neglected words in the English language, that people throw the word love around like confetti when they mean affection.

I'm not a reader of young adult fiction for the simple reason that these novelists are writing for adolescents, so they are not writing for me.

And he did see--that life was rotten, that there were no heroes, really, and that you couldn't trust anybody, not even yourself.