Writing is not my problem, it is my solution.

One of the reasons I write is I like being surprised

You write a book and you finish the book. That's your job done, right? You win the Booker and you have a whole new job. You have to be the thing, right? So instead of writing the story, you somehow are the story. And that I found that sort of terrible.

I think it’s very important to write a demythologized woman character. My characters are flawed. They are no better than they should be.

I'm quite interested in the absolute roots of narrative, why we tell stories at all: where the monsters come from.

It is very hard to trace the effect of words on a life.

I write anywhere - when I have an idea it’s hard not to write. I used to be kind of precious about where I wrote. Everything had to be quiet and I couldn’t be disturbed, it really filled my day.