If you'll think about various series you've read, can you think of any instance in which, say, the tenth volume of the series is notably better than the first nine? I can't.

Reading a novel in which all characters illustrate patience, hard work, chastity, and delayed gratification could be a pretty dull experience.

I do try not to spend much time reading in the suspense genre.

I don't have dry seasons, because I don't allow them.

I had been writing fiction since I was in eighth grade, because I loved it.

If I don't have a project going, I sit down and begin to write something - a character sketch, a monologue, a description of some sight, or even just a list of ideas.

Yes, in my books I do edit myself to keep from becoming the Village Explainer.

Much of what we do in life has a huge component of luck.

I do want to write about Jane Whitefield again, but only when I have a good enough idea - something I've figured out about her that's news and that's worth a reader's time.

It's important, I think, for a writer of fiction to maintain an awareness of the pace and shape of the book as he's writing it. That is, he should be making an object, not chattering.

Contrary to what many writers imply about the process, nobody forces a writer to sell his work to the film industry.

Faith goes up the stairs that love has built and looks out the windows which hope has opened.

My life has been turbulent forever like the waves of the sea.

I did want to feel like life's all of one piece.

Adaptation seems to be, to a substantial extent, a process of reallocating your attention.

Once, the parental bed collapsed because all the children sat on it at once.

The whole creative process...is putting opposites together into something that wasn't there before.

In all honesty, titles are an embarrassment to me.

Little sister, don't you do what your big sister done.

If you can bring earnestness to your meditation, you will find that happiness is something that will run through your life constantly.

A story can be new and yet tell about olden times. The past comes into existence with the story.