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Women writers have been told, forever, that our stories were not valuable. Not as valuable as men's stories about wars, business, power.

Plot, rules, nor even poetry, are not half so great beauties in tragedy or comedy as a just imitation of nature, of character, of the passions and their operations in diversified situations.

I find writing the darker side, writing tragedy, a lot easier than writing happiness. Happiness is just less psychologically compelling, isn't it?

Literary fiction is kept alive by women. Women read more fiction, period.

For every story you hear that's tragic, there's another that's equally tragic or more so. I think you come to look at it as part of life.

It's all about creating a back story for the character and developing emotional responses that are true to life in relation to the character. It isn't necessary to live a tragic life to create from that place.

I wonder if novels work for women because they give us a safe place to talk about our ish.

There is still a funny notion that women should not write violent fiction.

Every woman must own her story; otherwise we are all part of the silence.

Traditionally in crime fiction, women exist as a bedroom convenience or to screw up in order that the plot may progress. I wanted no part of that.