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I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to go on for years, and never write the novel at all.

I really enjoy researching, and for almost every piece, I research enough to write a book.

To me, novels are a trip of discovery, and you discover things that you don't know and you assume that many of your readers don't know, and you try to bring them to life on the page.

I like reading novels because it provides insight into human behavior.

I love research so much that I do an enormous amount; it helps put off the moment of starting to write the story.

I obviously prefer writing novels but I take my journalism very seriously, and I enjoy doing it between novels. It gives me an opportunity to move in the outside world.

I write the kinds of novels I like to read, where the setting is rendered with love and care.

I try to write about things, places, events, and phenomena I know about personally. That helps make the novels more genuine.

I love writing picture books and story books because of the exciting, visual life that artists and illustrators give to them. And most of all, I love writing novels because of the inner, emotional journeys that they take me on. Hopefully, the reader comes with me!

I'm always determined that as a novelist I'm going to go out there and research my characters very thoroughly before I start writing.