The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning

There's surprisingly little difference between writing from a male angle and from a female angle, but I feel more restricted in my language when I'm writing as a male character because males tend to sound less emotionally expressive than females.

Once your mind is caught on the right snag, there's nothing so hard about the mechanics of writing.

I spend about a year between novels

Smells could bring a person back clearer than pictures even could.

We stay in the house so much because I am waiting for the telephone. I seem to be back in my teens, a period I thought I would never have to endure again: my life is spent hoping for things that only someone else can bring about.

I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns