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I think one of the paradoxes of writing fiction is when people enjoy it, they want it to be real. So they look for connections.

I think that's what fiction writing is actually all about. It's about trying to solve problems in creative ways.

Isn't that what writing is about? The constant attempt to understand the world?

I think fiction, for me, is a way of trying to understand why people do the things they do - and trying to explain what is, at heart, illogical.

People who read fiction are different from other people because they are people who are interested in an imagined world.

The lovely thing about writing is, well, two things. One, writing fiction allows us to bring an order to our lives that doesn't exist in real life. And two, it allows us to create human characters that we know better than we will ever know anyone in real life.

The world of fiction is a sovereign world that comes to life in the author's head and follows the rules of art, of literature. And that is the major difference that is reflected in the form of the work, in its language and its plot. An author invents every aspect of a fiction, every detail.

First of all, writing at best - certainly fiction writing - more and more I think is magic.

So much of literary sci-fi is about creating worlds that are rich and detailed and make sense at a social level. We'll create a world for people and then later present a narrative in that world.

I think the fundamental thing about writing fiction is that you write what interests you and what inspires you. It can't be forced. I see no need to write about anything else or any other type of world.