You are a real find and you keep me satisfied, up to a point. After all, I'm a malcontent and you can't change that.

When blame has been assigned, the story is over.

When all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story.

There's nothing to talk about to strangers anymore, if you know what I mean. Everything I want to say, I say to her.

It's my feeling that any writer can get an emotion into a story without being sentimental as long as the emotion is dealt with honestly, with sufficient clarity, and detail.

Because it is the Midwest, no one really glitters because no one has to, it's more of a dull shine, like frequently used silverware.

A novel is not a summary of its plot but a collection of instances, of luminous specific details that take us in the direction of the unsaid and unseen.