I think the one thing that's changed over time is that I've come to realise, as a fiction writer, the fact that I don't think it will work out, doesn't mean that it actually won't.

[I]t may be that a crowd at a particular moment of history creates the object to justify its gathering.

I haven't had writer's block. I think it's because my process involves writing very badly.

I felt more doubtful than usual with 'Goon Squad,' because I knew that the book's genre wasn't easily named - Novel? Stories? Novel-in-stories? - and I worried that its lack of a clear category would count against it. My hopes for it were pretty modest.

We're [writers] all afraid of writing badly, and there are psychological reasons, like the bad interior of ourselves is somehow being revealed, but we all fear that, and you can't write well if you're not willing to write badly. That's why you have to make writing a habit, so it feels normal and not strange.

reach isn’t describable in terms of cause and effect anymore: it’s simultaneous.

Americans are less selfish than some of our politicians believe and will respond with reason and resilience to passionate clarity.