If anybody had shown me the paperwork for how my life was going to look in five years, I would have said, "No. That is not where I want to go."

I am the person who is appropriating stories that are not mine and turning them into a book.

You see an absolutely brilliant film later, as an adult, and you walk out thinking about what to have for dinner. Whereas something like Jaws winds up having a huge effect on me. If only my parents had been taking me to Kurosawa films when I was eight, but no.

Reading fiction is important. It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own, which in turn makes us more empathetic beings. Following complex story lines stretches our brains beyond the 140 characters of sound-bite thinking, and staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps.

I don't really do anything with the Internet except check my email. I have a much higher opinion of humanity because of that.

I wanted to eat her pain, take it into me and make it my own.

People always say, "Can writing be taught?" I always think, I can teach you how to write a better sentence, how to do dialogue, how to do character, but I can't teach you how to be a decent person, and I can't teach you how to have something to say.