Lisa Unger

“I read 'Rebecca' when I was a teenager and was swept away by the powerful voice, the gut wrenching suspense and the dark, twisted love story at its center.”

“Truman Capote was a magical, beautiful writer.”

“Uselessness, she thought, was the permanent condition of parenthood.”

“I definitely feel that plot flows from character. I don't believe that you can construct a plot and insert people into it.”

“I'm a 'bound book' kind of girl. I have a Kindle, and I enjoy it for some things, like convenience or instant gratification, or all the little things that you can do with them.”

“Maybe I have this fascination with the dark side because I live in the light. I don't have any dysfunction, and I've never experienced trauma.”

“I think most people are just trying to be happy, and that most of their actions, however misguided, are in line with that goal. Most people just want to feel they belong somewhere, want to be loved, and want to feel they're important to someone. If you really examine all the wrongheaded and messed-up things they do, they can most often be traced back to that basic desire. The abusers, the addicted, the cruel and unpleasant, the manipulators --these are just people who started this quest for happiness in the basement of their lives. Someone communicated to them through word or deed that they were undeserving, so they think they have to claw their way there over the backs of others, leaving scars and creating damage. Of course, they only create more misery for themselves and others.”

“I write for the same reason I read: to find out what's going to happen.”

“I don't remember a time when I didn't define myself as a writer.”

“I love the village in my computer. There's little validation in the day-to-day life of a writer; sometimes we ache for a connection.”

“Of course, like all organic processes, there is an ebb and a flow to writing. One does not exist without the other. The writer needs to be vigilant in protecting both, confident in the knowledge that the village will be there when we choose, finally, to open the door.”

“I was always the observer, trying to understand what was going on. I was always the new kid. Writing became my safe place.”

“The Universe doesn't like secrets. It conspires to reveal the truth, to lead you to it.”

“There's a village in my computer - friends, fans, readers, and colleagues. It's a populous, sometimes chaotic little burg always bustling with news, gossip, opinions and potential excitement.”

“I don't think of my characters as people I create, I think of them more as people I have met and whom I'm exploring on the page. I don't actually think of myself as having 'created' any of these people.”

“The worst violence we can do to each other often is psychological, especially in families. I dwell a lot on domestic danger. That's the backdrop of most of my novels - what kind of damage is done without ever lifting a finger.”

“Never talk to strangers. If someone ever tries to take you, fight with everything you have. Scream as loud as you can. (He'd never told her what to do if the man was too strong and there was no one to hear her screaming.)”

“When you start to really know someone, all his physical characteristics start to disappear. You begin to dwell in his energy, recognize the scent of his skin. You see only the essence of the person, not the shell. That's why you can't fall in love with beauty. You can lust after it, be infatuated by it, want to own it. You can love it with your eyes and body but not your heart. And that's why, when you really connect with a person's inner self, any physical imperfections disappear, become irrelevant.”

“There's nothing particularly dark in my past... I live in the light. My disposition is basically happy. I have a good life.”

“If I weren't a writer, I'd be a psychiatrist.”