Some people go into tantra with the idea, sort of an intellectual approach, that now they can just do everything and stay high. That doesn't work at all.
In general, I think my freedom of invention is not limited when I use historical characters.
Men do not live by truth alone; they also need lies: those that they invent freely, not those that are imposed on them; those that appear as they are, not smuggled in beneath the clothes of history. Fiction enriches their existence, completes them and, fleetingly, compensates them for this tragic condition which is our lot: always to desire and dream more than we can actually achieve.
I have been always fascinated and seduced by history, which I think is very close, very close to literature.
I have a chest full of all the insults, villainies, and infamies a man is capable of withstanding. . . . If you become famous, you will have to go through that.
I always write a draft version of the novel in which I try to develop, not the story, not the plot, but the possibilities of the plot. I write without thinking much, trying to overcome all kinds of self-criticism, without stopping, without giving any consideration to the style or structure of the novel, only putting down on paper everything that can be used as raw material, very crude material for later development in the story.
I write because I'm unhappy. I write because it's a way of fighting unhappiness.
Nothing is constant except change
Old reference books are like tree rings. Without them, there'd be no way to know what a tree had lived through.
I wasn't rebellious. Other friends had far stricter parents and where there wasn't a relationship of respect and communication, they were usually the opposite; kids go to the other extreme.
Do you think it's possible to finally decide that you really, truly love someone but not end up marrying him?