The Intricacy Of Plotting A Thriller Is

You Learn To Exploit Genre For The More Important Things - To My Mind - Like Story, Character, Image, Language.

Our Imaginations Are Strong As Children. Sometimes They Get Shoved Aside, These Imaginations. They Get Dusty And Mildewed With Age. The Imagination Is A Muscle That Has To Be Put To Use Or It Shrivels.

And I Know I'm Supposed To Feel Guilty For Wanting People To Buy My Books... And Books In General? Novels And Poetry, They Belong To The Realm Of Art. How Dirty Of Us To Try To Hawk Art! But, After A Decade Of Hand-wringing And Apologies, I Can't Quite Muster The Guilt Anymore.

I Always Think I Know The Way A Novel Will Go. I Write Maps On Oversized Art Pads Like The Kind I Carried Around In College When I Was Earnest About Drawing. I Need To Have Some Idea Of The Shape Of The Novel, Where Its Headed, So That I Can Proceed With Confidence. But The Truth Is My Characters Start Doing And Saying Things I Don't Expect.

I Don't Have A Favorite. I Need Different Genres At Different Times.