It's a complex thing when you're writing a novel, because so much of it is conscious and planned and deliberate, and so much of it is not, and it has to be a dance between the conscious and the unconscious. I bring my best instincts to my work. For instance - and I come by this naturally, or I think I do - I am a very good judge of character.

I do that with all of my characters. They have one of the flaws I have, and I zero in on that flaw.

I wondered if my smile was as big as hers. Maybe as big. But not as beautiful.

Mostly, I think people are fake. Well, what do you expect? The fake world we live in conspires to make us all fakes.

The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.

It's a complex thing when you're writing a novel, because so much of it is conscious and planned and deliberate, and so much of it is not, and it has to be a dance between the conscious and the unconscious. I bring my best instincts to my work. For instance - and I come by this naturally, or I think I do - I am a very good judge of character.

Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.