My Theory Of Characterization Is Basically This:

One Of The Great Themes In American Literature Is The Individual's Confrontation With The Vast Open Spaces Of The Continent.

We Live, We Die. Somewhere Along The Way, If We're Lucky, We May Find Someone To Help Lighten The Load.

In Her Mind's Eye She Saw It, Saw It All At Last: The Rolling Armies And The Flames Of Battle; The Graves And Pits And Dying Cries Of A Hundred Million Souls; The Spreading Darkness, Like A Black Wing Stretching Over The Earth; The Last, Bitter Hours Of Cruelty And Sorrow, And The Terrible, Final Flights; Death's Great Dominion Over All, And, At The Last, Empty Cities, Becalmed By The Silence Of A Hundred Years. Already These Things Were Coming To Pass.

I Have Any Number Of Completely Dark Obsessions And Fascinations, And None Of This Was Present In My Profile Or My Growing Profile As A Writer.

I'm A Workmanlike Writer. I Show Up Every Day And Treat It Like A Job. The Old Rule That Writing Is Like Any Other Job, The First Rule Is That You Must Show Up. I'm At The Keyboard From 9 To 4 Every Day.