So there was a fire inside me. And that fire inside you it can be turned into a negative form or a positive form. And I gradually realised that I had this fire and that it had to be used in a positive way.

No matter what you're going through there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you'll find the positive side of things.

Politics was my third act. But I could have a fourth. I don't know what that will be yet but there will be one.

There is this concept of politics as a dirty game. It's a difficult game but it doesn't have to be dirty. I think this is what we need to bring to politics. I think politics around the world has very often been captured by big interests - 'lobbies' they call them in the States.

There was a widespread indignation in the American media. They were saying 'How can you make a movie during an election that's about politics? What are you doing? Are you trying to influence people's lives?' To which my response was 'Well I hope so.'

The thing about American politics as I've learned is there is no choice.

We don't tend to write about disease in fiction - not just teen novels but all American novels - because it doesn't fit in with our idea of the heroic romantic epic. There is room only for sacrifice heroism war politics and family struggle.

Whether you are on the Right or the Left everyone can agree that there are a lot of outside influences in American politics that are not good for the system. There's just too much money.

We talked about politics constantly in my family growing up in North Carolina. There were always debates. Being of Greek background it's in our blood to drink coffee and talk politics.

There has been a shift to what may be defined as a culture of negativity which goes well beyond coverage of politics.