I guess real maturity, which most of us never achieve, is when you realize that you're not the center of the universe.

I'm a great believer in research. I have to know about a place before I write a story that is set in that place.

If you're a kid who is always on the outside hoping to be on the inside, you're watching a lot. You're trying to figure out how to become a normal person in a society that considers you weird.

Kids often ask me if characters are real or made up - and I always tell them, 'I hope they're real but I made them up.'

I don't think that the Internet has contributed greatly to immorality.

I am probably biased, but I think social media is the great equalizer. It gives everyone a megaphone. Young people who might not have had the platform for exposure can now get their ideas out to a very receptive audience.

I see some kids whose social media is their whole world, and I actually think it's good to disconnect from that.

The great myth that many social scientists want to encourage is that there is an incompatibility between modern technology and traditional religion. This is absolute nonsense. If anything, it's the reverse.