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Writing nonfiction of various kinds has been instructive and entertaining as well as paying the rent.

I really enjoy doing both, but I didn't write nonfiction until 1994.

I enjoy doing the research of nonfiction; that gives me some pleasure, being a detective again.

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

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.

Nonfiction that uses novelistic devices and strategies to shape the work. That's material that I really like.

I find that nonfiction writers are the likeliest to turn out interesting novels.

I love research. Sometimes I think writing novels is just an excuse to allow myself this leisurely time of getting to know a period and reading its books and watching its films. I see it as a real treat.

I've written many nonfiction books, but that's a special gift.

But with nonfiction, the task is very straightforward: Do the research, tell the story.