I always know exactly where my stories take place which gives me something certain so I can use my imagination for the other stuff. I worry though who wants to keep reading stories about Kalamazoo?

The way that a handful of corporations in Los Angeles dictate how our stories are told creates a real poverty of imagination and it's a big problem.

There's just so many great stories in the past that you can know a little bit about but you can't know it all and that's where imagination can work.

I like something where I can really use my imagination and be an active participant in the construction of the monster and usually that's in the world of the supernatural or the world of the fantastic so that's why those kinds of stories about demons and the supernatural appeal to me or maybe I'm really interested in that subject.

'Castle' is a guy living in a fantasy world. He's in his imagination writing these stories of murder.

Ghost stories really scare me. I have such a big imagination that after I watch a horror movie like 'The Grudge' I look in the corners of my room for the next two days.

Some stories are true that never happened.

I think films about men are often about characters who don't want to express their feelings. You're supposed to kind of admire them for not expressing their feelings. And I feel that's a bit dull. Women's stories often have stronger emotional content which I enjoy doing. What I really love doing is mixing that with humor.

It's self-effacing it's hard-luck the shtetl stories. All those Coasters things are an amalgam of Yiddish and black humor.

Suspense is very important. Even though this is humor and they're short stories that theory of building suspense is still there.

My stories are very somber so I think I need the comic ingredient. Besides life has so much humor.

I don't want to tell your story because you're a insensitive self-centered moron. I've told a lot of stories about young people and I always feel there's hope.

I hope telling stories though 'Making a Difference' - as in my academic work and nonprofit work - will help me to live my grandmother's adage of 'Life is not about what happens to you but about what you do with what happens to you.'

I am very lucky that I get to tell stories for a living. I love being able to grab people's attention to keep them turning the pages to make them stay awake all night. I want to stir the pulse yes but also to stir the heart. I hope 'The Woods' does that.

As long as we can tell stories about our ability to survive the more we will hope not self-destruct.

I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you and that you will work them water them with your blood and tears and you laughter till they bloom till you yourself burst into bloom.

I can remember being home from school with tonsillitis and writing stories in bed to pass the time.

How do you make any sense of history art or literature without knowing the stories and iconography of your own culture and all the world's main religions?

Storytelling in general is a communal act. Throughout human history people would gather around whether by the fire or at a tavern and tell stories. One person would chime in then another maybe someone would repeat a story they heard already but with a different spin. It's a collective process.

If history were taught in the form of stories it would never be forgotten.

In the beginning when I sat next to Tom Brokaw on the 'Today' show the stories I was interested in were those having to do with women and children and learning and health. In those days 25 to 30 years ago that was called soft news and not in a nice way.

I don't think there's a shortage of material in the world. Or in my head. I just pray for continued good health because I've got other stories to tell.

Why do you think the old stories tell of men who set out on great journeys to impress the gods? Because trying to impress people just isn't worth the time and effort.

For most Americans Friday afternoons are filled with positive anticipation of the weekend. In Washington it's where government officials dump stories they want to bury. Good news gets dropped on Monday so bureaucrats can talk about it all week.