That was the way love was, invisible, there whether or not you wanted to see it or admit to it.

I never plot out my novels in terms of the tone of the book. Hopefully, once a story is begun it reveals itself

Jill told me that when you're really in love, you know right away. I'm not exactly sure how this happens. Is it like a flash of lightning? Like an angel tapping you on the shoulder? Or is it similar to choosing a puppy? You think you're picking the cutest one, but really you wind up going home with the one who keeps insisting on climbing into your lap.

I have nothing from my childhood. I think you carry those books with you. It's like in [Ray] Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." Books are outlawed in this future society so people become the book they love by memorizing it.

I think love is a huge factor in fiction and in real life. Is there a risk? Always. In fiction and in life

I saw the end of his life right there in that single moment. His pride, his decency, his secrets, his death.

We had to survive to remember. Otherwise everything we were would disappear. Those people we loved would fade as though we'd never loved them, as if they'd never walked and talked and burned, forgetting them was the real evil. That was the hole of darkness.