As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed by what we are told by our parents, our teachers, our intimates.

I was always influenced by language.

Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.

The human longing for story is so powerful, so primitive, that it seems like something not learned, but locked into our genes.

I concentrate on the lives of individuals whom the reader comes to know and feel with intimately.

However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with a historical setting and a novel with a contemporary setting, as far as I'm concerned.

A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into.