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It turned out I really didn't like journalism. I wanted to make up stories, not cover real events.

I liked journalism and thought it was important, certainly more important than fiction. I'd probably still be doing it if I hadn't been elbowed out.

I don't think I ever wanted to be a journalist - I was more interested in what comes from being a journalist.

I was a bad journalist.

Well, to be honest I think I tell less truth when I write journalism than when I write fiction.

Many fiction writers write for the critics or for themselves; they forget the common reader. I never do. I don't think journalism clashes with my fiction; on the contrary, it helps enormously.

I think the key to being a journalist is getting your subject to feel comfortable enough to talk about stuff they want to talk about and the stuff they like and don't like, and still feel comfortable about it.

I wrote about four novels before I wrote a word of journalism.

I became a journalist partly so that I wouldn't ever have to rely on the press for my information.