I'm just a slow writer. I'm picky and careful and fastidious.

Generally, my notes and outlines comprise more words than my novels. I suppose that's one reason I'm a comparatively slow writer, something that has always bothered me given the fact that other authors can turn out a book every six months while I usually take about two years.

I wanted to write a novel where the meaning is in the story and characters and the subliminal, in the shades and nuances. It's exciting to develop that as a writer.

I became very timid, very retreating. I wouldn't talk to anybody. I didn't look you in the eye. I just had that kind of personality as a kid that basically puts a target on you.

There's a reason evolution is a hot-button issue. It's not just a matter of science, either. It's a matter of the big questions in life - why are we here, what is truth, where is our moral basis?

It's a very slow, very careful, methodical process.