I like knowing where I am in action sequences if I'm supposed to.

A reversal is just anything that's a surprise. It's a way of keeping the audience interested.

Everyone I know who used to be in the intelligence community is moving into the corporate world.

Ambiguity depletes as your budget rises.

I love the idea of spies in love. How would it work between two people who were so programmed to lie and be suspicious, who have a whole life based on pretence?

You have to know human behaviour … And the quality of your writing is absolutely capped at your understanding of human behaviour. You’ll never write above what you know about people.

The people in the Philippines are so extraordinarily nice.

No one can help you write. No one can teach you how to write.

Different people work different ways.

Fear changes everything. We're animals, and when we get afraid we act like animals. I'm not exempt from that.

I never really like it when other writers talk about coming in behind people and rewriting.

Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn't try to write fiction. It's not a grand enough job for you.

May the beauty of the flowers remind us of the beauty of our loved one's spirit

When writing for children, it's important to keep in touch with our own inner child. What frightened them, made them happy, made them sad or angry?

Money is the best lotion in the world.

I think laughter is crucial. Some of the original cultures, like the Dalit and the Native American, don't separate laughter and seriousness.

The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that when it finally arrives, it is called today.

You win by effort, by commitment, by ambition, by quality, by expressing yourself individually but in the team context.

I write about what I know and also what I don't understand. Emotions for what has transpired.

No one respects the flame quite like the fool who's badly burned

I try to watch as many movies as possible within a group setting instead of just in front of my laptop. It's better to watch something and chat about it with your programming peers afterward.