I've always wanted to write energetic, atypical sentences, i.e., sentences that were not normal or bland.

I love the idea that more people would read short fiction. I think it's such a humanizing form. It softens the boundaries between people.

If I find myself being too earnest and sentimental and hyperbolic and simplistic, which is definitely a tendency I have, then I bring in this perverse henchman.

As the writer of this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], what I loved was the feeling of having so many surprises come at the end that I hadn't really planned or planted.

I read to make myself feel awake.

I don't tend to work directly from life, except in trying to mimic or match the outlines of its insanity. In other words, when I live through something, I just try to say to myself, "OK, remember this - life is really this crazy or scary or beautiful or surprising - so try to 'get at' that in your stories.

I understand what something short should be like. I understand beauty in that form. If I start extending, somehow I kind of lose my bearings.