I'm increasingly less interested in classic storylines and that arc that we have come to expect.

I'm increasingly less interested in classic storylines and that arc that we have come to expect.

I had been really obsessed with Jonestown for a long time - many years - and had read everything there was to read about it, seen all the footage and the documentaries. I found it really chilling in a personal way - the question of people submitting all their personal power and agency and independent thought it the name of a group or ideology. I could not find a way to write about it directly that didn't feel too heavy.

I don't like stories that are too neat and too resolved. I think resolutions can be deadening for the reader.

I definitely feel like when I write a book it's not my job to police or guide the readers. The book and the characters don't belong to me anymore. If that makes sense.

I'm felt I was writing about love and desire and community and belonging and grief and a whole host of other issues. But race is never far from the surface.

My fear was like a stray dog, roving the neighborhood of my life, looking for a new source of worry.