Probably I, like a lot of people, became a writer in imitation of or in homage to the books I enjoyed. When you're so captivated by something, you think, could I do that? Hmm, let me try

I think there is still pressure to marry. I think there is still pressure to have children. If you're middle or upper class, those pressures exist at a later age now.

Well, I think that if you sincerely try to imagine what life is like for another person - not in a mocking way, not in a satirical way, but in a sincere, compassionate way - I don't think that's exploitive.

To remain alone did not seem to me a terrible fate, no worse than being falsely joined to another person.

Well, I think in my first two novels, both the characters are pretty neurotic, which I would say that I am.

I guess in life I find people who, at first glance, appear to be very typical or average, whatever that means, and then turn out to have hidden qualities.

High school is very intense for everyone. But at a boarding school, because you're there 24 hours a day, everything gets magnified.