I think it's hard to write about children and to have an idea of innocence.

Any action, in the fullness of time, sinks to nothingness.

It's hard for me to show work while I'm writing, because other people's comments will influence what happens.

The novel is about five students of classics who are studying with a classics professor, and they take the ideas of the things that they're learning from him a bit too seriously, with terrible consequences.

I believe, in a funny way, the job of the novelist is to be out there on the fringes and speaking for an experience that has not really been spoken for.

Who cares? If he is good to you? None of us ever find enough kindness in the world, do we?

Even if you need, and want, a second opinion, it can be dangerous to have people telling you what they think you ought to add, or cut, before you've even finished telling your story. One loses heart; one loses energy and interest. Or at least I do.