When I find myself frozen - whether I'm working on a brief passage in a novel or brainstorming about an entire book - it's usually because I'm trying to shoehorn an idea into the passage or story where it has no place.

In general, I think, less is more and that if a reader stops reading because a book is too icky then I've failed in my obligation to the readers.

In other words, the people who populate my books are more than caricatures.

My books are primarily plot driven but the best plot in the world is useless if you don't populate them with characters that readers can care about.

Generally my typical books have lots of twists and turns a big surprise ending and then usually another surprise at the end and ideally, as in Garden of Beasts, we get to the very end and we find at the last few pages that there's yet another surprise.

Hardcover books are fairly expensive these days and to read one requires a significant commitment of time in our busy society. So I want to make sure that when readers buy one of my books they get something they're familiar with.

I spend about eight months researching and outlining my book.