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It's often better to read first-rate science fiction than second-rate science - it's far more stimulating, and perhaps no more likely to be wrong.

Naturally, it was easier for me to envision becoming a novelist than it is for most people. I had two great in-house teachers; I had parents who considered a career in the arts a real possibility rather than a dreamy arrow shot into the sky.

I'd always much rather be second choice on anything because it makes you work harder.

I had thought of writing, actually, and that later on I'd be a novelist.

I wasn't tempted to go into academia for a second.

I have an English literature degree. I wanted to be the next great American novelist from a very early age, but I put it aside for a while, because I got very realistic at one point.

The world may be full of fourth-rate writers but it's also full of fourth-rate readers.

I'm not sure if I always wanted to be a writer, but I was always writing.