I've never really thought of writing books. I've never thought about stories as a part of a collection.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'd love to do a whole series of stories and have them collected into books.
I've seen novels that have grown out of one story in a collection. But it hasn't occurred to me to take any of those stories and build on them. They seem very finished for me, so I don't feel like going back and dredging them up.
Both types of books - fiction and nonfiction - are a search for story. As a writer and a reader, there's nothing I crave more than a good story!
But at the same time, I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories because they turn into novels.
I'd always been a big reader, and I loved books, and I always thought writing would be a great way to get by in the world.
I don't collect books just because other people collect them, and I'm not going to have books in my collection if I think it's badly written.
I have written 20 books, and each one is like having a baby. Writing is not easy; some people want to write books but just can't put a story together. I can put together a story that interests both me and my readers.
Writing is incidental to my primary objective, which is spinning a good yarn. I view myself as a storyteller more than a writer. The story - and hence the extensive research that goes into each one of my books - is much more important than the words that I use to narrate it.
I remember all the way back in high school thinking about writing books. And, in fact, I've written a lot of stories. I've got dozens of stories I've written that no one's ever seen.
I write for the love of writing. If I never published another book, I would still be writing stories.