Jeff Lindsay

I certainly try to avoid getting bogged down in forensics. There is certainly a whole lot of other writers who know a lot more than me about it. I know enough about it to do a little bit of background on laboratory techniques and stuff. But it kind of bores me.

Later, in the afternoon, I read what I did that morning. It's almost always a surprise. But I can read it rationally; edit, polish, re-write, and think what I might do tomorrow in the early darkness.

In the afternoon, it's impossible to put down any new words. I don't even try.

My first true lesson in writing came from Mr. Bowden when I was 16. At my high school, he was the teacher known to be the very best at literature and writing.

I had been writing poems and stories since I learned to make letters. I had placed poems in a hardcover anthology at the age of 6. And I knew more big words than anyone else in the 10th grade.

Every writer must find a way of writing that tells the reader: This is me and no one else. The Voice can be idiosyncratic, but it cannot be obscure. It is a blend of style and content and intent and rhythm and pure personality.

Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words.

When I was a playwright earlier in my career - my senior project in high school was my first produced play - I used to put on the title page: 'A tragedy with laughs.'

It was a tremendous stroke of good luck that the show got Michael C. Hall to play the part. Everyone I've talked to thinks Michael is a perfect 'Dexter,' which never happens.

I do as much as I can. I even drive through the chase scenes several times to make sure the details are right.

Dexter-Land is a dark and scary place, and I couldn't live there permanently. To be honest, I don't think I even want to visit.

I need quiet and solitude to work. Darkness is best. If I am wide awake, I can't write.

It's a mistake to think that Dexter is nice.

I didn't expect any success at all. I was rejected by every publisher in the world and every agent in town.

My father was one of the first six guys ashore on Iwo Jima. He's 86 years old now, and every single night of his life, he has nightmares, and he wakes yelling.

The first rejection that 'Dexter' got, I was like, 'OK. This hasn't worked. Let's try something else. I'll go get a teaching job or something.'

I know a lot of law officers, and every single one of them faces a moment - usually after about three hours on the job - when they realise that there's no connection between law and justice.

The law, as an institution, avoids justice, subverts it, just as often as it sees it done.

'Dexter' has been very, very good to me. I would rather stop doing it than cheapen it.

I don't have much time to sit and watch a lot of TV. And I can't really binge-watch.

I made a deliberate choice to write something people would enjoy, not knock people out with 'Boy, he can really put a clause together!'

We all pretend, we all hide things, so why not take the concept to an extreme? That is the basic idea for the character of Dexter. Pretend to be human, while quietly and carefully living out the life of a monster on the side.

If you look at Victorian England, being a soldier was considered a noble profession.

What my research told me is that a psychopath cannot change. You're born like that.

Marvel Comics has always been a place where I felt at home. It has been a very important part of my life and has always been a wellspring of creative and relevant ideas.