The Amateur Marriage grew out of the reflection that of all the opportunities to show differences in character, surely an unhappy marriage must be the richest.

Try Jesus, you won't regret it, a billboard read.

She was good at talking with young people. She seemed to view them as interesting foreigners.

None of my own experiences ever finds its way into my work. However, the stages of my life - motherhood, middle age, etc. - often influence my subject matter.

I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.

I don't want to say I hear voices; well, actually I do hear voices, but I don't think it's supernatural. I think it's just that when characters are given enough texture and backbone, then lo and behold, they stand on their own.

...if you catalogue grudges, anything looks bad.