I don't think that stuff is gone - I just don't want to dwell on it. There's a difference. As I said, I think we all have tendencies as writers, and I think we all have experience that we bring as readers to each project.

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.

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.

To be honest, Im not that much of a reader of Korean fiction, since so little is translated.

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.

Imagination might not be limitless. It's still tethered to the universe of what we know.

Before I had published anything, I still hung out with people who liked to write. None of us had published, so there was no talk about the business, and there was probably a lot more angsty talk back then. But these days maybe there are some more laments about the culture, but I would say no.