I have a very basic notion of the structure the book might have - that's mostly it. The rest is luck and happenstance.

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

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.

Much of my work has been done in first person.

I'd say writing is easier for me now than it once was, but I do less of it.

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.

The old man began to sing. His voice was very lovely and obviously a part of something that the world had disposed of in its haste, evidence of a grander, kinder past.