Hard work should be rewarded by good food.

I'm a great planner, so before I ever write chapter 1, I work out what happens in every chapter and who the characters are. I usually spend a year on the outline.

Those are usually a reward for hard work. Good players score those goals. Guys like you and me, the puck would end up in the seats.

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.

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.

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