He found himself in habiting the vast, empty plateau where most people live, between boredom and contentment.

A writer needs four things to achieve greatness, Pasquale: desire, disappointment, and the sea.” “That’s only three.” Alvis finished his wine. “You have to do disappointment twice.

You take something from your past that you're somewhat ashamed about and you write about it from another character's point of view.

He wished he could reassure his mother: a man wants many things in life, but when one of them is also the right thing, he would be a fool not to choose it.

You have to do disappointment twice.

The form is so malleable and can do so many things.

You probably have to trust that your work is following certain themes and certain movements, but then the rest is a kind of piecing together so that the whole becomes larger than the parts.