I guess I just couldn't see standing there -- alive, talking, thinking, breathing, being -- one second, and dead the next. It really bothered me. Death by violence isn't the same as dying any other way, accident or disease or old age. It just ain't the same.

It's okay. We aren't in the same class. Just don't forget that some of us watch the sunset too.

the person in this picture is really me.

I think that The Outsiders was meant to be written, and I was just picked to write it.

I was desperate for something to read that dealt realistically with teenage life, and I thought others might be, too.

Johnny almost grinned as he nodded. "Tuff enough," he managed, and by the way his eyes were glowing, I figured Southern gentlemen had nothing on Johnny Cade.

I never base a character on someone I know. You can get ideas from real life, but every character you write is some aspect of yourself.