Take naps. Often new ideas come together when you are half asleep, but you have to train yourself to remember them.

A theory of creativity is actually just a metaphor. A pool of ideas, a well of memories, a voice.

My characters never die screaming in rage. They attempt to pull themselves back together and go on. And that's basically a conservative view of life.

Art doesn't exist if you just do what you're told. It only exists as an exercise of individual taste and freedom.

The brave view is that talking it out helps work it out. Maybe the realistic view is that talking it out inflames the issues further. But that is America, especially these days.

The main thing about the novel that is totally fascinating: It's not possessed by the writer; it's possessed by the reader.

I have reared, or helped to rear, five children and the scariest bit, bar none, is the learning to drive part. It has filled me with anxiety not only about the children, but also about my former self and my friends.