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" I use a professional researcher in New York who does all the legwork, all that stuff which would take me days and weeks of calling, waiting for people to call back. "

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" 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. "

Ken Follett

Success

Words

Destiny

" People are much more complicated in real life, but my characters are as subtle and nuanced as I can make them. But if you say my characters are too black and white, you've missed the point. Villains are meant to be black-hearted in popular novels. If you say I have a grey-hearted villain, then I've failed. "

" In my books, women often solve the problem. Even if the woman is not the hero, she's a strong character. She does change the plot. She'll often rescue the male character from some situation. "

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

" The CIA's research program is described in a book called The Search for the Manchurian Candidate. "

Ken Follett

Book

Research

" Most of my stories have some basis in fact. "

" There is no point in asking a man a question until you have established whether he has any reason to lie to you. "

" I enjoy learning technical details. "

" A very good editor is almost a collaborator. "

" Culture clash is terrific drama. "

" One of the hardest things for me, now that I'm famous, is finding people who can read my stuff and give me an honest critique. "

Ken Follett

Now

People

" World War II is the greatest drama in human history, the biggest war ever and a true battle of good and evil. I imagine writers will continue to get stories from it, and readers will continue to love them, for many more years. "

" Movies have influenced all writers, not just thriller writers. "

" We all now tell stories by cutting from one dramatic scene to the next, whereas Victorian novelists felt free to write long passages of undramatic summary. "

" 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. "

" James Bond is quite serious about his drinks and clothing and cigarettes and food and all that sort of thing. There is nothing wry or amused about James Bond. "

" I don't think there's any great mystery to writing female characters, so long as you talk to them. If you lived in a monastery and never met any women, maybe it would be difficult. "

" With hindsight, we see that the Soviet Union never had a chance of world domination, but we didn't know that then. "

" Be a perfectionist. "

Ken Follett

Perfectionist

" Without books I would not have become a vivacious reader, and if you are not a reader you are not a writer. "

" An awful lot of thriller writers write women rather badly. So just doing it OK gets a lot of credit. "

Ken Follett

Doing

Credit

" My favorite period is World War II, and I'm in the middle of writing my fourth novel set in that era. "

" The thriller is the most popular literary genre of the 20th century. "

" When I'm writing a woman character, I don't think, 'What would a woman do?' I just think, 'What would this character do in this situation?' "