I think it's extremely important that children are exposed to reading.
I've walked on a lot of battlefields. Most of them are not haunted.
I understand what it is that actors do. They embody someone that they aren't.
When you're an artist, you can't write with the intent of affecting anyone.
I don't think I ever consciously separated 'school' books from any others; I just read anything that came across my path.
I thought at first that I might write mysteries, but then I said, 'Mysteries have plots, and I'm not sure I can do that yet.'
I work late at night. I'm awake and nobody bothers me. It's quiet and things come and talk to me in the silence.
Mid-afternoon, I'll go out and do the household errands, come home, do my gardening, go for an evening walk.
You won't have a story unless you have conflict, which means if there's no conflict in a situation, people look for a way to make some.
How you carry a story in pictures is different than how you do it in text.
The only thing I knew about novels from a technical point of view was that they should have conflict.
Cultural concepts are one of the most fascinating things about historical fiction.
My mother taught me to read in part by reading me Walt Disney comics, and I never stopped.
I'm not a team player. I'm used to having total control over everything I do.
I don't plan the books ahead of time. It's not like Harry Potter. I don't work in a straight line. I don't write with an outline.
Reading 'The Last Days of Magic' is like playing a well-constructed video game.
Conflict and character are the heart of good fiction, and good mystery has both of those in spades.
I understand the visual media very well, as I used to write comic books for Walt Disney, and I've written a graphic novel.
At one point, some years ago, a nice gentleman had it in mind to do 'Outlander The Musical.'
I hated 'The Lovely Bones'. I thought her vision of Heaven was amazingly uninspired and very depressing. The book was just tedious.
I discovered that, given the indescribable nature of what I write, the only way to sell it is to give people free samples.
If you want to know anything about me, read my books - it's all there.
I was 35, had always wanted to write novels, and thought that I had better do it while I was young enough.
