As Herman Melville wrote of that seagoing monster of a man Captain Ahab, “All mortal greatness is but disease.

People think I live here on Nantucket and just gaze at the ocean, getting my inspiration. Not so. I work in my basement and gaze out onto a single window that shows me a cement wall. This is a profession, and it's important to have professionalism about the writing.

In all natural disasters through time, man needs to attach meaning to tragedy, no matter how random and inexplicable the event is.

Enthusiasm is big. When I write a book, it's a three-year commitment. Toward the end, I'm writing seven days a week, and it's exhausting but thrilling. The only hope is to have some real enthusiasm for the book. ... Above all, you need some strong emotional or personal connection to your material.

Something like going to get the newspaper can increase your writing efficiency by taking you away from the material. When I'm doing other things, writing stuff will be swirling around in my head, and sometimes I'll see a new way into the material.

You cannot underestimate the influence of Shakespeare.

To my mind, an adventure is something a person willingly undertakes.