When you're writing a novel, you're still telling a story. But you're telling it very differently. It's a craft like anything else.

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

The novel remains a very special form for me.

I knew I wanted to be a writer. Where I came from, no one was a writer. I came from Long Island, and everyone became a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer or a teacher or a businessman. I didn't know any writers.

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.

What is absolutely true is that any good [Television] series has a specific voice. And I think that voice is almost exclusively the domain of the executive producer. . . . As a staff writer you're not being called upon to be the great creative person. You're sort of called upon to understand the characters and their voices and put them through certain paces.

I feel like a centrist, an issue-specific person. I'm pretty conservative fiscally and pretty liberal on social issues.