Every writing teacher I ever had except for one told me I was an awful writer, had no idea what I was doing, and should stop immediately. It only took the one to tell me something different to light a fire under me.

I try to hurt myself, to sprain something, writing every novel and story, because I'm stretching for something new and difficult that I haven't done before.

Vampires should be pretty much like mean girls, all the time, only amazing at it. Flawless. They've had time.

Just about every science whiz can tell you how he or she took apart the TV or the radio when they were kids just to see how it worked. To see what the world was made of. Well, when I was a kid, I took apart fairy tales to see how they worked. To see what the world was made of.

I had the idea that I should beat up every player I tangled with and nothing ever convinced me it wasn't a good idea.

My idea of a writer: someone interested in 'everything,'