"Literature" is written material that, 100 years after the death of the author, is forced upon high school students.

The general difference between conservatives and liberals is that liberals like pretty pictures and conservatives like to build bridges that people can drive across.

I do not over-intellectualise the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.

Being a victim is more palatable than having to recognize the intrinsic contradictions of one's own governing philosophy.

Jack looked out the window as they passed the Mormon temple, just outside the beltway near Connecticut Avenue. A decidedly odd-looking building, it had grandeur with its marble columns and gilt spires. The beliefs represented by that impressive structure seemed curious to Ryan, a lifelong Catholic, but the people who held them were honest and hardworking, and fiercely loyal to their country, because they believed in what America stood for.

Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if "X" happened? That's how you start.

Giving your book to Hollywood is like turning your daughter over to a pimp.