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Science fiction writers put characters into a world with arbitrary rules and work out what happens.

Realistic novels simply pretend that the rules of their invented worlds are identical to the rules of actual life, but that's a ruse.

What I think is interesting is that the more you do, you have to invent a book of rules of what you can do and what you can't do. And the very real danger is that if your book of rules becomes a book of cliches.

Literature invents its own rules.

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

It's about living in a world with rules, or a world without rules.

I think a lot of writers are tempted to add complexity by over-complicating things, but always remember that most natural rules/laws are, at their core, simple. Start simple, and build from there, or you risk getting yourself and your readers tangled.

I loved writing a book in which, in some ways, it's very, very classical, and in some ways I'm breaking lots of rules about what you can do and what you can't do.

When you publish a book, it's the world's book. The world edits it.

The good thing about writing a novel is that you're creating an imaginary world and can take a break when you need to.