Writing is a profession that requires a lot of discipline, how do you motivate yourself to keep writing and How much of writing do you do per day?
I am highly motivated because I keep thinking of the plot of a book and its characters and I have to relieve the tension that is built up in me.  But I write in spurts.  I do not write every day or pressure myself to do this.  I will read, watch films, listen to music, feed my imagination.  And then I will begin to write and write every day all day for six weeks to complete a book.  This works for me.  
The great thing about our profession is that there are no rules.  You do what is right for you. 

What do you think helps you the most during the creative process?
I'm helped very much in the creative process by doing historical research for a book.  It inspires my stories, as well as making earlier periods real for me as I write.  Of course I seek to make these worlds real for the reader.  ------ I'm also inspired by classical music and film.  But when I write, I write in silence.  Films refresh my mind and I respond to the narrative of a good movie. I see new possibilities.  If I don't become stimulated by these things, I keep looking for new films and new music. 

I know when I try to write anything the thing I get stuck on most often is naming my characters, do you have the same problem and if so, how do you overcome it?
Names do matter a lot in my stories.  If I can't get the right name, I can't create and develop the character on the page.  I consult name books and I underline names in my research.  I love to work with names that are distinctive.  I try not to repeat names, but inevitably I will have two characters, books apart, with the same name.  Benji is one of my favorite names and I've used it twice. I wish I could use it a third time. 

What is the process involved in changing a novel into a screenplay and how are creative conflicts between you and the director handled?
I am not a natural screenplay writer. I have done it, but I am not collaborative by nature. I cannot really take guidance from a director.  I am too sensitive to changes in my work.  I feel my son, Christopher, is a natural screenplay writer and he seems to have great respect for the collaborative process.  
Turning a novel into a screen play is a matter of finding the scenes that best give the full thrust of the novel.  It is not that difficult, but changing it? Well, that for me is difficult.  I do not know how to resolve a difference of opinion with a director. I have almost no firsthand experience of this. 

I know that writing is a form of soul searching and therapy, do you find that reading what you have written clears your mind, or helps you deal with traumatic events in your life?
I sometimes find it very hard to read what I have written. At other times, I am amazed by the things I've written because I don't remember them correctly.  ----- I read my own world only when I have to do so.  I do it in the hope of not repeating myself.  ---- Writing for me is so intense.  When I finished a book, I wake from it.  That means I may forget some of that intense experience.  I have to go back and assess at times.  I do.  It's painful. 

When did you know that you wanted to become a writer?
As a small child, I knew I wanted to be a writer.  I made up stories. I tried to write them down.  I didn't commit to this as a career path until I was almost thirty-three. 

Were you surprised by the cult following “Interview with a vampire” inspired?
I was indeed happily surprised by the cult following of Interview with the Vampire.  The book did not go over that well when it was first published. I felt misunderstood and a little let down.  Then people began to tell me, little by little, what the book meant to them.  It stayed on the bookstore shelves.  More and more people read it and responded.  I was overjoyed.  I felt my book was alive.  I have since learned that my books take years to find their audience.  Often the first reaction is dismissive.  But if the book stays in print, which usually happens, thank Heaven, the understanding will eventually come.  I feel for writers whose books go out of print quickly. This is tragic for them. 

How does it feel, being a household name?
Am I a household name?  If I am, then I am fulfilling my dream of being a great popular writer, someone who writes for the whole world, not for an elite, someone who can be read by people who don't usually read, as well as those who live for books.  This was and is my dream.  

Why do you not want fan fiction written about your characters?
I don't fanfiction is good for anyone, not for the writer who might inspire it, or the people who engage in it.  A young writer should lay claim to his or her own characters, and story, and voice.  Voice above all is important.  Your original voice is your strongest asset as a writer, and you should own what you do with that voice. You should protect it.  Fanfiction can never allow you the recognition that you might deserve for putting your talent into something.  ----- As for me personally, I find fanfiction confusing. I want my version of my books to live; and films will be made from those books.  I do not want to see my characters alive in some one else's book.  ----- I think fanfiction is fine if the writer has been dead for 100 years. Yes, one can find outstanding examples of it, spin offs of Jane Eyre etc.  But fanfiction now in my lifetime involving my characters? No.  

The Vampires are amazing very real characters... It makes people think that they do exist and you know something that we all don’t. Having written characters that are that real must give you some sort of personal relationship with all of them; do you miss them?
I do not miss any of my characters because in a very real way they are always with me.  Lestat is me.  He's with me.  I am satisfied with the ten books of the Vampire Chronicles, and the stories of the Mayfair Witches.  I do miss Azriel, the hero of Servant of the Bones, because I did not write all I had to write with that hero.  But I will not go back.  I cannot go back to the view of the world that nurtured my earlier work.  People think it's a matter of choice.  It is not. 

What advice can you give to aspiring writers?
My advice to aspiring writers is write.  Write and write and write. Save what you write. If you stop, start again.  Ignore criticism.  Cherish your own voice, your own story and your own characters.  Do not listen to people who do not "get it." If you find your story interesting, other people will too.  Critics are a dime a dozen.  Writers are priceless.  A writer's life is a great life.  It's worth the effort. Don't be discourged.  Keep going.  Think of yourself as a writer, and move through the world as a writer, and ask of the world what a writer needs.  ------ Remember, there are no rules.  If what I say does not inspire, ignore me.