It turns up the heat under a narrative when you limit the characters in their movements or their freedoms.

I remember manners, that's when people are scared to make other persons mad.

I actually tried to think of the story [Room] in gender-neutral terms at first and said to myself, "OK, would this work if it were a man?" Well no, you can't make a man pregnant, so it's got to be a woman.

When I was a little kid I thought like a little kid, but now I'm five I know everything

I was highly aware, in writing [the book] ROOM, that there are unsavoury aspects to our interest in such cases, and I thought it was rather honester to include discussion of media representation in the novel itself than to cling to the high moral ground by merely avoiding scenes of voyeurism, for instance.

Seriously, I think what all the puzzling over parenthood I had to do to write [a novel] ROOM taught me is that children can thrive in a remarkable range of situations.

I've always been religiously inclined, but it doesn't come up in most of my books.