Carla H. Krueger

"When I read a daring book or listen to rebellious music, I feel like I've found what freedom really means."

"People who love reading get an instantly warm feeling in their bellies when they hear others describe getting comfortable with a good book."

"People who don't read fiction are scared of what's inside their own heads."

"There are books that change our perspectives and books that change our personalities."

"There are some great, subversive female writers out there. Gender should not affect anything. It does, but it shouldn't."

"Bravery isn't brandishing a sword. It's standing your moral ground and letting others try their best to take you down."

"People love books because they're searching for answers to deep, unconscious questions - and books get as close as it's possible to get."

"I like to think I’ve written something worth reading when I cry the tears of the characters."

"I do not do free e-books. I occasionally like to eat that thing you people call "food"."

"My best writing happens when I’m fighting to produce it."

"I’m an observer. I am fascinated by people and how their minds work (and, of course, my own). Why we are the way we are, why we do the things we do – and that interest drives my writing. I was a physicist before fiction claimed my soul, so I’m an experimenter. I’m open to different ways of thinking. I like exaggerating, making things up. I’m a very open, honest person in life and that’s the way it should be, but when it comes to fiction, I want to pour a few sharp objects into the comfort zone. Our fears are powerful, yet we’ve all got a desire to laugh and be entertained. I could have followed the same path I do now as a scientist, examining how the brain works. Ironically I get much more freedom to experiment as a writer. That’s why I love it."

"I’m much more than a writer – I’m someone who puts different words together in an interesting way."

"If I don't stay in and write, I feel like a prisoner."

"I live, love and loathe my characters. They stole my mind. They stole my heart."

"I lose it when I can't write. I feel sad and confused and fucked off."

"When I write, I write obsessively. I try to pace myself, but some fires are too hot to put out."

"It's better to be remembered for what you said, not what you earned."

"Books are like rivers, meandering this way and that, but taking us on a steady, flowing course to somewhere different."

"Someone asked me, 'How do you write a book' I said, 'I live with a pen in one hand."

"The most lies we will ever tell in our lives will be to ourselves."