Welsh Quotes

When I'm writing a woman character, I don't think, 'What would a woman do?' I just think, 'What would this character do in this situation?'

We all now tell stories by cutting from one dramatic scene to the next, whereas Victorian novelists felt free to write long passages of undramatic summary.

Thrillers have been traditionally very masculine books; the women characters often rather decorative.

There was a very serious communist strain among American intellectuals before the war. America was a more tolerant place in those days, and Communists were not treated as pariahs. That ended with the McCarthy era.

The thriller is the most popular literary genre of the 20th century.

My favorite period is World War II, and I'm in the middle of writing my fourth novel set in that era.

Movies have influenced all writers, not just thriller writers.

Most of my stories have some basis in fact.

James Bond is quite serious about his drinks and clothing and cigarettes and food and all that sort of thing. There is nothing wry or amused about James Bond.

In my books, women often solve the problem. Even if the woman is not the hero, she's a strong character. She does change the plot. She'll often rescue the male character from some situation.

I use a professional researcher in New York who does all the legwork, all that stuff which would take me days and weeks of calling, waiting for people to call back.

I like to create imaginary characters and events around a real historical situation. I want readers to feel: OK, this probably didn't happen, but it might have.

I enjoy learning technical details.

I don't think there's any great mystery to writing female characters, so long as you talk to them. If you lived in a monastery and never met any women, maybe it would be difficult.

For success, the author must make the reader care about the destiny of the principals, and sustain this anxiety, or suspense, for about 100,000 words.

Culture clash is terrific drama.

Be a perfectionist.

An awful lot of thriller writers write women rather badly. So just doing it OK gets a lot of credit.

A very good editor is almost a collaborator.

The CIA's research program is described in a book called The Search for the Manchurian Candidate.

The research is the easiest. The outline is the most fun. The first draft is the hardest, because every word of the outline has to be fleshed out. The rewrite is very satisfying.

Without books I would not have become a vivacious reader, and if you are not a reader you are not a writer.

There is no point in asking a man a question until you have established whether he has any reason to lie to you.

There is a real connection between Philosopy and fiction.

Every time I hear the name Joe Louis my nose starts to bleed.

When I left school, I got a job in a shoe shop and I used to save 15 quid a week and pay for my own singing and acting lessons.

To me, growing up in South Wales, a pair of Diesel jeans were the thing to have - if you could afford them.

One funny thing is, though, I wear my watch on my right hand and I'm actually right-handed. People always wonder why - I don't know myself, I've just always done it that way and I like it the way a good watch fits on my right wrist.

Most men have an insecurity of some sort. But we're brought up to believe that we can't show them.

It's just hard to get an independent film made.