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I have always thought it morally unacceptable to kill stories, not to run stories, that people have risked their lives to get.

There are definitely some stories worth telling and I think there's something to be said for telling your story.

I haven't personally in my real life had many people close to me die, but my characters have, and I've had to live that as though it's real. And it can take a really big emotional toll on someone.

I'm not sure the risks I take are any different from what other writers take, since we all serve at the pleasure of the reader.

I'm not interested in playing the victim. I like stories about survivors.

Stories have always been the things that entertain me and make me feel happy and sad and move me and give me the experience of being able to live many lives in one lifetime. It's the best thing about being alive.

Stories are hard. I have friends who knock out stories on a weekly or monthly basis, like they're running on medicinal-strength Updike. But for me a story is as daunting a prospect as a novel.

Death is an absolute mystery. We are all vulnerable to it, it's what makes life interesting and suspenseful.

While books provided me with some escape from the mental and physical horrors of my early life, they were unreliable. Many times the protagonists suffered terribly and then died at the end.

Just taking risks for risk's sake, that doesn't do it for me. I'm willing to take risks that I think are worth it, and I've worked so hard to make sure that I survive.