One thing the passage of time has shown me is that you never know how you'll behave in a situation until you're in that situation yourself.

One thing the passage of time has shown me is that you never know how you'll behave in a situation until you're in that situation yourself.

Mostly what ends up inspiring me and affecting my work are books by authors that I love.

Unless I'm writing trying to write about a historical figure, I don't really set out to read or research with a specific topic in mind.

I don't know if make a conscious effort to vary the characters and subjects that I write about, but I do find myself keeping track of ideas that come along, as probably most writers do, and whatever seems most interesting to me when I flip through my notes before I begin a new story is usually what I will try to write about next.

Tangentially, Americans, despite many of us being prone to sometimes-eyebrow-raising disclosures about our private lives on social media, still retain what I think of as reactionary views about sexuality and intimacy.

I keep a couple of notebooks too into which I record ideas for story titles or characters or situations, and these notes help me quite a bit when I'm feeling at loose ends and not sure of what to work on next.