I've always wanted to write a novel. It's overwhelming and daunting, and it's one of those things that every writer fantasizes about doing.

When you do a TV show, the cumulative intimacy you develop with the audience through your characters is pretty profound. It may be the most profound storytelling there is, because the character gets to live and roll around in the audience's mind week after week.

The novel remains a very special form for me.

Listening takes practice, and it takes patience. But I promise, if you listen, your story will be better for it.

I have a ways to go as a novelist. But what's great is, well, I frankly enjoyed the solitude. And I enjoyed being able to tell characters what to say and do without negotiating with an actor.

I guess I've always been an aspiring novelist. I went to Princeton and wrote a novel for my thesis.

I'm one of three brothers.