I had been a reporter for 15 years when I set out to write my first novel. I knew how to research an article or profile a subject - skills that I assumed would be useless when it came to fiction. It was from my imagination that the characters in my story would emerge.

He brought imagination to the story of the Creation.

You'd have to have one hell of an imagination to completely make up a story but historians are very anal about what they think should be portrayed on screen. Thankfully they don't make movies we do.

I don't necessarily start with the beginning of the book. I just start with the part of the story that's most vivid in my imagination and work forward and backward from there.

My favorite literature to read is fairly dry history. I like the framework and my imagination can do the rest.

I look back into past history the stored experiences or products of the imagination. I look no further forward than the evening.

Someone once said that history has more imagination than all the scenario writers in the Pentagon and we have a lot of scenario writers here. No one ever wrote a scenario for commercial airliners crashing into the World Trade Center.

I surrendered to a world of my imagination reenacting all those wonderful tales my father would read aloud to me. I became a very active reader especially history and Shakespeare.

I know how fiction matters to me because if I want to express myself I have to make up a story. Some people call it imagination. To me it's not imagination. It's just a way of watching.

Growing up I didn't have a lot of toys and personal entertainment depended on individual ingenuity and imagination - think up a story and go live it for an afternoon.

The best scary movies have great humor in them and a great story.

Once we got over the origin story we could really delve deeper into their lives and characters and angst. So this movie actually has more heart more humor.

But because it was able to balance that kind of humor with a sweet story and characters you really rooted for and also got across the girls' point of view I've heard nothing but great things from younger and older females as well.

I think I've learned that if you want to be successful you have to tell your story honestly and from your heart - and I think a healthy sense of humor doesn't hurt either.

There is humor in the specter of the worst disaster in our nation's history. All I have to do is sweep away the debris of shock to find it.

My humor tends to be a little more edgy than is appropriate for 'Twilight ' although I got some in there. That was fun! There's just a tonal difference. For me storytelling is storytelling. But I do like writing for grown ups.

Throughout history great leaders have known the power of humor.

Wherever my story takes me however dark and difficult the theme there is always some hope and redemption not because readers like happy endings but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.

I don't want to tell your story because you're a insensitive self-centered moron. I've told a lot of stories about young people and I always feel there's hope.

No matter how dark things may get in a story I feel it's the responsibility of the storyteller to leave the audience with at least a shred of hope.

But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.

I hope I didn't bore you too much with my life story.

I read the Odyssey because it was the story of a man who returned home after being absent for more than twenty years and was recognized only by his dog.

Recently I heard a 'wise guy' story that I had a party at my home for twenty-five men. It's an interesting story but I don't know twenty-five men I'd want to invite ta a party.