What I've always tried to find in my books are points at which the private lives of the characters, and also my own, intersect with the public life of the culture.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I am very interested in place, and the influences of place on characters.
I'm drawn to projects where I play these really complicated characters, but also where I can have some type of influence on affecting what we see as societal norms.
I'm all about entertaining and keeping a reader on the edge of their seat, so to me, the social issues have to be meaningful and give the book what's really 'at stake,' but ultimately it's not about them - it's always a personal story of everyday people thrust into life-threatening situations and having to perform heroic acts.
All my books are adventures, but they also have a social viewpoint.
You have to find something there that relates to the characters and reality on some level.
When I begin a book, I inevitably discover many things along the way, about the characters, their past histories and the political intrigues that surround them. This discovery process is vital, and I would not prejudice it by deciding too much in advance.
Everybody has a public life, and they have their own private life. Everybody has their secrets. Everybody has their own private, you know, agonies as well as joys. And that's what great drama, whether it's the movies or the theater, that's what it shows.
The line between private and public lives is a fertile one for me. I've lived quite a public life, and it's the reason I have used well-known people in my work. I'm interested in what's going on beneath the facades they present to the world, taking them to a place which is uncomfortable.
There is a common theme, though, in the stories I have told, which are usually associations of characters or families that are formed outside of a family circle.
About my books, that's all that I think the public has, in its normal way, to know. My private life is, by definition, private.
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