The natural impulse of men is to follow and whoever has the strongest sense of purpose will always dominate.

Working 14 hours a day until you're 55 and missing your kids growing up is not what I would consider a recipe for happiness.

It's when you've stopped writing and are doing other things, especially when you're asleep, that the real work is done.

First comes an idea. Then, characters begin to evolve out of the landscape of that idea. And then, finally, characters dominate: plot is simply a function of what these people might do or be. Everything has to flow from their personalities; otherwise it will not be emotionally engaging, or plausible.

It is perseverance, and not genius that takes a man to the top. Rome is full of unrecognized geniuses. Only perseverance enables you to move forward in the world.

Does a name stick because it suits a man or does the man, unconsciously, evolve into his name?

I was a political journalist; I came to writing novels through an interest in politics and power.