Tom Clancy was once asked how he thought fiction differed from reality. "The difference between fiction and reality?" he mused. "Fiction has to make sense!"

[For many years, Tom Clancy wrote each day from 8:00 a.m. to noon at a computer in his personal library, a room which contained 3,000 books -- and 200 military hats. Remarkably, given the intricacy of his plots, Clancy did not generally write from an outline.]