It Would Be The Death Of All

I Read A Lot Of Detective Stories Because They Always Deliver. They Give You A Beginning, A Middle, And An End - A Resolution. The Modern Novels I Read Don't Always Deliver Because I'm Looking Essentially For A Story. As In Shakespeare, "the Play's The Thing." In Particular I Read Detective Stories For Pacing, Plot And Suspense.

I've Had Aunts And Uncles Who Not Only Haven't Read My Books But Could Hardly Believe That I Was A Writer.

You Could Reason With Someone Who Was Halfway Educated And Appeal To His Intelligence, But I Felt Helpless In The Face Of Utter Stupidity.

A Man I Know Who Writes And Aspires To Be A Novelist Does Very Little Reading, And He's Not That Successful. But I Think It's Because He's Like The Kid Who Wants To Be A Ballplayer And Never Goes To The Ballpark Or Tries To Hit A Ball. So I'd Say Reading Is The Most Important Thing That I Do, Besides The Actual Writing. I'm Always Asking As I Read, "how Did The Writer Do This? Why Do I Suddenly Have Tears In My Eyes? Why Am I Crying?"

When I Write, I Never Think Of Segments As Chapters; I Think Of Them As Scenes. I Always Visualize Them In My Mind. Then I Try To Get The Scene Down On Paper As Closely As I Can. That's The One Thing That Readers Don't See - What You Have In Your Mind. The Reader Can Only See What You Get On The Page.