Michael Robotham Quotes

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.

- Michael Robotham

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.

- Michael Robotham

I wasn't always a novelist. I began my writing career as a journalist, working on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney, Australia, doing the crime beat and court reporting. Having grown up in a small country town, I felt as though I had nothing to write about.

- 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.

- Michael Robotham

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.

- Michael Robotham

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

- Michael Robotham

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.

- Michael Robotham

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.

- Michael Robotham

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

- Michael Robotham

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.

- Michael Robotham

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

- Michael Robotham

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.

- Michael Robotham

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.

- Michael Robotham

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.

- Michael Robotham

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.

- Michael Robotham

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

- Michael Robotham

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

- Michael Robotham

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

- Michael Robotham

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

- Michael Robotham