Dark books do appeal to kids because they have nice, sheltered lives - and they also appeal to children who are going through pretty hard times themselves.
I always thought of vampires, especially the young-adult ones, as a metaphor for sex - sucking blood, forbidden, taboo. I think they just ooze sex. Vampires are all the big themes in life in one attractive, bloodsucking package.
I was always a sci-fi and fantasy geek. I was in the 'Lord of the Rings' club and all my cool friends made fun of me.
I used to write my books at night when I was a freelancer with no children. I used to really work in huge spurts - I could turn around a revision in two weeks, I used to be able to write 10,000 words a day. It's like, 'Wow, what happened to that?' That's just gone.
I don't write that much horror. People tell me my books are scary, but they're not really; I don't go there.
We all want to live forever, but we don't want to suck blood to do it, right? I think people like to have these deep moral questions that don't come up in real life.