Coelho discusses how his books reflect his soul.

At forty years of age, Coelho recognized that his dream of becoming a writer had to be grasped, or discarded. His first novel, The Pilgrimage, can be read as an autobiographical account. He sees this work as his literary rite of passage: the book that he had to write. Likewise, aspects of Veronika Decides to Die are taken from his own experiences in a mental institution, where his parents placed him at the age of seventeen.

Coelho explains that his books are, in his heart, already written. The difficulty is finding the book behind that first sentence, hidden somewhere in his brain. And, finally, he has the idea for his next book.