Plot was always secondary in my mind.

I think that the way that I write stories is by instinct. You have some basic ideas - a character, or an image, or a situation that sounds compelling - and then you just feel your way around until you find the edges of your story. It's like going into a dark room... you stumble around until you find the walls and then inch your way to the light switch.

There are so many people we could become, and we leave such a trail of bodies through our teens and twenties that it's hard to tell which one is us. How many versions do we abandon over the years?

Even when our death is imminent, we carry the image of ourselves moving forward, alive, into the future.

Maybe love, like suffering, is relative.

Writing a short story is a little like walking into a dark room, finding a light and turning it on. The light is the end of the story.

Identity issues are hardwired into the way I think about character - it's almost as if I can't get away from them even if I want to.