Writer

When you read a book, you are letting another person distract your thoughts and work your emotions. If they are adept, there's nothing better than turning off and getting lost.

When you read a book, you are letting another person distract your thoughts and work your emotions. If they are adept, there's nothing better than turning off and getting lost.

Crafting a piece of gripping, narrative true crime that engages the world is not that different from crafting a piece of crime fiction.

Women who write thrillers are called 'dark.' Male writers are called 'powerful.'

When you grow up starving, you cannot point with pride to a book you've just spent six hours reading. Picking cotton, sewing flour bags into clothes - those were the skills my father grew up appreciating.

Women who write thrillers are called 'dark.' Male writers are called 'powerful.'

With 'Pretty Girls,' I saw the opportunity to talk not just about crime but what crime leaves behind.

Oh, I'm completely OCD about neatness.

I can clearly trace my passion for reading back to the Jonesboro, Georgia, library, where for the first time in my life I had access to what seemed like an unlimited supply of books. This was where I discovered 'Encyclopedia Brown' and 'Nancy Drew,' 'Gone With the Wind' and 'Rebecca.' This was where I became inspired to be a writer.

I read about violent things. I think what I get out of that is entertainment by learning about different things, and reading the genre and getting an understanding of motivations. But at the end of the day, it's still a book, and I can walk away.

I'm just not a crazy, stay-out-all-night sort of person. I love writing.

I always wanted to be a writer. In the beginning, I thought I had to rewrite 'Gone with the Wind,' but eventually, I found my way and realized that wasn't me.

There's a tendency among some male writers to make the women in their stories weak and needing of rescue so that their hero looks like a manly man.

When I was little, my grandmother would take me to church with her, and she would introduce me to people.

I am hard-pressed to find a successful writer who doesn't have a similar story to mine - transformation through the public library.

I love puns. I've been known to turn the car around just to take advantage of a good pun situation. It really is the highest form of humor.

Books are not like albums, where you can simply download and enjoy your favorite chapter and ignore the rest.

I read about violent things. I think what I get out of that is entertainment by learning about different things, and reading the genre and getting an understanding of motivations. But at the end of the day, it's still a book, and I can walk away.

It was always my dream to write for a living.

Denise Mina is probably one of the most gifted writers out there, whether it's mystery or literary or whatever label you want to give it.