Stephen King

I had a period where I thought I might not be good enough to publish.

He had a massive stroke. He died with his tie on. Do you think that could be our generation's equivalent of that old saying about dying with your boots on?

I never saw any of my dad's stories. My mother said he had piles and piles of manuscripts.

Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones.

When asked, 'How do you write?' I invariably answer, 'one word at a time.'

That's something that is almost accidental at the beginning of a career, but the more you write, the more trained you are to recognize the little signals.

Whatever came to mind, whatever came to hand, I would read.

You see something, then it clicks with something else, and it will make a story. But you never know when it's going to happen.

Each life makes its own immitation of immortality.

We've switched from a culture that was interested in manufacturing, economics, politics - trying to play a serious part in the world - to a culture that's really entertainment-based.

We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it's all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can't change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.

But I think there are a set of experiences that turn a potential writer into a working writer, and then there are places in your life were you start to recognize what you want to do.

It's a mystery. That's the first thing that interests me about the idea of God. If there is one, it's mysterious and powerful and awesome to even consider the concept, and you have to take it seriously.

People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy... and I keep it in a jar on my desk.

Like anything else that happens on its own, the act of writing is beyond currency. Money is great stuff to have, but when it comes to the act of creation, the best thing is not to think of money too much. It constipates the whole process.

I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts.

You have to stay faithful to what you're working on.

What charitable 1 percenters can't do is assume responsibility - America's national responsibilities: the care of its sick and its poor, the education of its young, the repair of its failing infrastructure, the repayment of its staggering war debts.

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.

After the 9/11 apocalypse happened in New York City, people, particularly New Yorkers, who breathed in the ash, or saw the results of that, have a tendency to keep seeing echoes and having flashbacks to it.