In any novel I write, I have in my mind several things which happened in the protagonist's past which I never mention in the book.

I read poetry every day. I look at it as an exercise, a kind of T'ai Chi for writers. It teaches economy of form.

Space opera was the sort of story on which I grew up. When I was younger, I read heavily in pulp magazines. They were readily available in the stores.

I try to sit down at the typewriter four times a day, even if it's only five minutes, and write three sentences.

Science is not the glamour that's portrayed in films. It's a lot of drudgery work, along with the wonderfully exciting periods when you discover something.

Anguish over the loss of a loved one or feelings of helplessness have complex roots. But in the end, they make you feel bad because they adjust your brain's chemistry. Happiness and its opposite are both electro-chemical reactions; those reactions are temporary and ineffable and could even have hidden benefits.

It's weird because I once lost a job because I had a chemistry read with the lead actor, and I could tell we had negative chemistry. He was very lovely, but you could tell. We had the chemistry of two chairs.

My first undertaking in the way of scientific experiment was in the field of economics and psychology.