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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.

Wherever a writer grew up, they're obviously influenced by that area, and I'm sure their characters are pulled from those experiences.

Places are extremely important when writing a long story because place shapes a character.

With all of the qualities of the scene-setting, the dialogue, the place and time and the time and place in which your characters move. And I want to move with the characters, move with them and describe the world in which they are living.

If my characters travel somewhere, I generally write about a place I know to give the scenes more authenticity.

I'm first and foremost interested in the story, the characters.

I'm not really a plot writer - I'm more interested in the characters and sort of small events that propel the story forward.

You have to find something there that relates to the characters and reality on some level.

I love novels where not much 'happens' but where the interest is in the ideas and analyses of characters.

I always look for good stories and good characters, and if they're placed in a whodunit, then I'm interested.