I wanted to write about the Korean War, but I had no entry into it that made the kind of sense it needs to make for a novelist.

Historical novels are about costumery. I think that's the magic and mystery of fiction. I don't want to write historical fiction but I do want the story to have the feel of history. There's a difference.

You can be affected by a person because of something particular they said or did but sometimes how a person was, a manner of being, that gets most deeply absorbed, and prompts you to revisit certain parts of your life with an enhanced perspective, flowing forward right up to now.

My family immigrated when I was 3, and our predecessors inhabited the Korean Peninsula for as long as can be recalled.

It is 'where we are' that should make all the difference, whether we believe we belong there or not.

The past, as you suggest, is absolutely present at all times and the present is born from the past. I wouldn't want to suggest that the past determines the present.

It's not that I don't enjoy other people, but what I find with writers is this back and forth. And also, there's no need to talk about work.