Top 22 Quotes by Gayle Lynds

Ignorance is bliss, or so we're told. Personally, I find ignorance is also destiny.

In 1996, when my first novel, 'Masquerade,' was published, I knew international thrillers - or spy novels, if you prefer - had been the domain of male authors for decades.

If you are writing a thriller with violence in it, the ending must be violent. You are delivering a promise to your reader.

I've always loved spy stories. Who can resist?

The villain drives the plot.

Sometimes you get what you want not because it's right or fair or even smart, but because you just don't know any better.

Do you love this story? If you love it, then you've got to write it.

Writers sometimes ruin a book by adding a lighthearted mood at the wrong moment.

Use plot to buttress a story.

Our only solace as writers is in the work itself, and perhaps also in a penchant for blissful ignorance that allows us to gamble, to risk, to keep going where others would tote up the odds and stop.