The most interesting things that happen in my books are usually the things that arise spontaneously, the things that surprise me.

I envy those writers who outline their novels, who know where they're going. But I find writing is a process of discovery.

The 20th century saw far greater catastrophes than September 11th, as bad as it was, and they didn't render literature or art or music irrelevant. In fact, I think that literature and art help us to understand - sometimes they provide narratives and metaphors for understanding history, for understanding recent catastrophes.

I remain a fan of my friend Bret Easton Ellis's 'American Psycho.' I think as a book about New York in the '80s it was pretty excellent.

Taste ... is a matter of taste (Tad Allagash)

There is a type of writer that can happily bury themselves in the country and dig very deep, but I'm not like that.

Something changed. Somewhere along the line you stopped accelerating.