When people say there is too much violence in [my books], what they are saying is there is too much reality in life.

It seems disingenuous to ask a writer why she, or he, is writing about a violent subject when the world and history are filled with violence.

All that matters in life is forging deep ties of love and family and friends. Writing and reading come later.

Obviously the imagination is fueled by emotions beyond the control of the conscious mind.

Often in gothic novels there's a large house, an estate, and it's symbolic of that culture. Usually it's sort of moldering or rotted or something, and sometimes it's a whole community.

You need so much energy and encouragement to write that if someone says something negative, some of that energy goes.