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.

For this is the journey that men and women make, to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn't matter much else what they find.