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

I don't want to have my life fall apart for my work.

Most novelists I know went through a period of intense self-examination and self-loathing after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I certainly did.

There's a socialist bias to the consensus of the literary world: a '30s mentality that says factory workers are more worthy of our attention.

Great minds sink alike, right?

Reading a novel is just a much more involving and intimate experience than the act of watching a film. I mean, you literally get inside of a novelist's head, and you invest many hours to do so.

Anybody who becomes a movie star becomes successful at projecting a certain image to the public.