The thriller is the most popular literary genre of the 20th century.
Nevertheless, the book gave Jack a feeling he had never had before, that the past was like a story, in which one thing led to another, and the world was not a boundless mystery, but a finite thing that could be comprehended.
The research is the easiest. The outline is the most fun. The first draft is the hardest, because every word of the outline has to be fleshed out. The rewrite is very satisfying.
Knotty theological questions are the least worrying of problems to me. Why? Because they will be resolved in the hereafter, and meanwhile they can be safely shelved.
His aim was the glory of God, but the glory of Philip pleased him too.
But desperate people find courage.
For success, the author must make the reader care about the destiny of the principals, and sustain this anxiety, or suspense, for about 100,000 words.
A very good editor is almost a collaborator.
Without books I would not have become a vivacious reader, and if you are not a reader you are not a writer.
There is no point in asking a man a question until you have established whether he has any reason to lie to you.
The boundary between philosophy and fiction is not as clear cut as you may think and the two definitely interact...
I aim to be translucent, so you don’t notice the words, just their meaning. I haven’t much insight into people’s motivations.
I don’t think there’s any great mystery to writing female characters, so long as you talk to them. If you lived in a monastery and never met any women, maybe it would be difficult.
There was a very serious communist strain among American intellectuals before the war. America was a more tolerant place in those days, and Communists were not treated as pariahs. That ended with the McCarthy era.
I like to create imaginary characters and events around a real historical situation. I want readers to feel: OK, this probably didn’t happen, but it might have.
Jack Reacher is a brilliant movie.
My favorite period is World War II, and I’m in the middle of writing my fourth novel set in that era.
Most of my stories have some basis in fact.
I read mostly fiction, a lot of 19th-century novels.
James Bond is quite serious about his drinks and clothing and cigarettes and food and all that sort of thing. There is nothing wry or amused about James Bond.