I think the crucial thing in the writing career is to find what you want to do and how you fit in. What somebody else does is of no concern whatever except as an interesting variation.

Whenever I start a book, I swear it's going to be a short one. But then it's, 'Who was his grandfather? And how did he get there in the first place? And what kind of animals is he chasing?'

Honest to God, I do all the research on these books myself.

Whatever I did, there was always someone around who was better qualified. They just didn't bother to do it.

Just writing a lot doesn't necessarily make you a better writer. You have to hear yourself as a writer, and the best way to do that is to read your writing out loud.

As a writer, I always tend to take the liberty and the great artistic luxury of a composite form of writing.

I love writing for young people. It's the literature that was most important to me, the stories that shaped me and informed my own journey as a writer.

In the middle 1940s... I heard everyone live. Painting, the theater; everything was happening. It was an exciting time when New York was the place to be.