Gillian Flynn

I've never been interested in watching or reading anything because it's the hero's story. I don't feel the need to be inspired by the character or learn a lesson. I feel the need to be engaged by them.

I am a great believer in jobs for teens. They teach important life lessons, build character, and inflict just the right amount of humiliation necessary for future success in the working world.

I think mystery writers and thriller writers - whatever genre you want to call it - are taking on some of the biggest, most interesting kind of socioeconomic issues around in a really interesting, compelling way.

One of my rules about writing exercises is you never are allowed to put them in your book because it's just too tempting. You try to shoehorn things that don't belong.

Even good characters have their dark sides, and I think it is important that women aren't seen as innately good.

I was not always someone who wanted to get married or thought I would get married, so being a true writer, I was always navel-gazing: 'What are good marriages? What are bad marriages?'

I'm a true-crime addict. It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but I can't stop.

I've wondered if 'Harry Potter' would have been as big if it was 'Harriet Potter.' Now that I've written a screenplay - and raising a son in particular - I'm looking at story content and realizing how limited women are onscreen.

I spent a lot of - too much of - my childhood watching movies and thinking about movies.

I was very lucky to grow up in a household that really valued storytelling and didn't find it frivolous.

Ever since I was a child, I've been a huge comic and graphic novel fan, but I've never tried writing one before.

I get really tense during the first draft. Really tense. That's not great for my family, because the first draft usually takes about a year.