Writer

Every writer I know got their start in a library somewhere. We read a book, and we thought, 'I want to do that.'

As much as we would like to deny it, reading is not vital to human survival.

I certainly went to high school with some mean girls, and I would not wish that hell on anybody.

I love twins stories.

Readers are very, very savvy, and I don't want to insult them by making them think I'm too lazy to get it right.

I never really fitted in, because I've always been interested in really dark things.

I think that characters who are nice all the time and who you sympathize with can get really boring.

That's why I love crime novels so much: When I write a crime novel, the conflict is built in.

I want to be a better writer. I want to learn and grow, to know how to tell stories in a different and more challenging way. I've learned it doesn't get easier each time. It actually gets harder.

Books give us insight into other people, other cultures. They make us laugh. They make us think. If they are really good, they make us believe that we are better for having read them. You don't read a book - you experience it. Every story opens up a new world.

As awful as crime can be, it's what happens afterward - the struggling to get out of bed, to put one foot in front of the other - that alters people.

I have a lot of men who will say to me, 'I don't read books by women, but I like you.'

What I know is the characters in a Southern town. I know the cadence of the language and the voice of Atlanta because I've lived here for so long. And I know the neighborhoods, and I hopefully know the people, and I feel a connection to them. And I also feel like I'm honoring them when I talk about them.

Men are more particular, and they're not going to grab something with a bodice-ripper cover on it.

My dad believed in scaring us as we were growing up. Scaring the boys who wanted to date us more.

I grew up watching the 'People's Choice Awards.'

As awful as crime can be, it's what happens afterward - the struggling to get out of bed, to put one foot in front of the other - that alters people.

When I'm on a good go, I can do 12, 13 hours of writing.

I grew up having the library as the best place ever. I spent a lot of weekends there as a kid - my parents would drop me off and leave me there all day. I would just sit in the back and read whatever I could find.

I never felt isolated; I just liked being alone. I think that some people are good at being alone, and some people aren't, and as a child, I really liked it.