The glamour of being forbidden must not be underestimated.

It's true that the human body is more vulnerable than the products of the human mind.

And using that - the birth of a religion, it suggests that you have got two tests. You have the test of weakness. When you're weak, do you compromise, do you bend, do you give in, do you accommodate? And then the test of strength. When you're strong, are you merciful, are you generous, or are you cruel?

Children like being a little scared, but they don't want to be disturbed.

Even when things are at their worst, there's a little voice in your head saying, 'Good story!'

A man who invents himself needs someone to believe in him... Not only the need to be believed in, but the need to believe in another. You've got it: Love.

It doesn't matter whether characters are real people or not; if they're not vivid on the page, then the reader doesn't care about them that much, and, if the reader doesn't care about them that much, then they don't care what happens to them.