A book can just be a description of a stick being snapped in half. If the reader is brought to feel the plight of the stick, well, you can imagine what that would be like.

One can't say how one behaved or why, really. Such situations, they are far more complex than any either/or proposition. It is simplistic to produce events in pairs and lean them against each other like cards. I suppose if you a playing go or shogi, then such a thing might be helpful, but that is not life.

Much of my work has been done in first person.

I begin with an image of some sort, just as if you saw something out of a window, and then went to the window to see what it was.

A beginning idea for a book might be: a boy emerges from a hole in the ground. He enters a house. The book will take place in the first ten minutes following his arrival.

If Americans are to read something that is difficult, they will only do so supposing they will be admired for having done it.

A person always has a chance to protest this or that.