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

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.

I think you know everything at eight. But is is hidden from you, sealed up, in a way you have to cut yourself open to find.

People whose lives are upside down often read fiction. When you're not sure where you'll end up or how you are going to be, and you're looking for some way forward, fiction is a great friend.

There are men who would do anything, asleep, and I'm not sure what stops them when they wake. I do not know how they draw the line.

I'm starting to think my narrators' sentences are getting too big for them, and they are getting to sound a bit samey and, more disturbingly, a bit too much like me.

Description is hard. Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand.