Quotes from Michael Robotham

The hardest part of ghost writing other people's stories is capturing their voices so that it isn't you talking, it's them.

I write books that will make 10 or 12 hours disappear, and hopefully they'll resonate with you for a few days, where you'll remember the characters and the story. That suits me fine; I am happy with that.

In the mid-nineties, I quit my job as a senior feature writer at 'The Mail' on Sunday in the U.K. and became a 'ghost writer,' collaborating with politicians, pop stars, psychologists, soldiers and sporting legends who needed help in penning their autobiographies.

Everybody you work with has their own voice, and if you do your job well enough, even their closest friends or their partner of 40 years isn't going to recognise the fingerprints of a ghostwriter.

You're not supposed to have a favourite book - it's like children.

I don't know what else to tell you. I often think how different my life would have been - how much happier - if you'd been a part of it. One day.

Remember, the worst hour of your life only lasts for sixty minutes. (292)

Violence is inevitable in crime novels, but there are many different ways to tell a story. I use my characters' reactions to illustrate the worst moments rather than let readers witness them at first hand.

That's the problem with folks nowadays. Nobody takes responsibility for their actions. Make a mistake and you pay for it. That's life.

I believe that if the story is fleshed out and the characters more believable, the reader is more likely to take the journey with them. In addition, the plot can be more complex. My characters are very real to me, and I want each of my characters to be different.

I'm very critical of crime novels that use gratuitous violence to shock readers when it isn't necessary. If that's all you have to offer as a writer, perhaps you're in the wrong job.

I'd like to set a story in Australia, but I would need to feel confident my German and U.S. readers, for example, would stay with me.

All of my novels are seeded in real life events, and 'The Wreckage' is no different.

Writing is what I do. It's what makes me tick.

I'm very fortunate to be doing what I dreamed of, what I love. So few people get that opportunity. So while people continue liking what I write, I'm going to happily continue.

A perfect hero is about as boring as a perfect marriage.

Love and pain are not the same. But sometimes it feels like they should be. Love is put to test everyday. Pain is not. Yet the two of them are inseparable because true love cannot bear separation.

I write entertainment. There are some books you read but don't inhale. There are books that will change your life.

I often joke that I could write 'War and Peace' and make it sound like Geri Halliwell wrote it.

Journalism took me around the world. I worked in London for ten years and reported on the collapse of the Soviet Union, the troubles in Northern Ireland, and the first Gulf War.

I normally write in the first person, and my narrators are as real to me as any of the people I have worked with. They live and breathe in my imagination.

I normally sleep very well, but when I do have bad dreams, they always involve my children.

People think it's easy to be cynical and pessimistic, but it's incredibly hard work. It's much easier to be hopeful.

Resentment is like swallowing a poison and waiting for the other person to die.