I really dislike when people talk about "experimental," because any good writer is experimental. As a writer, you don't know what the hell you're doing. You're just doing it. You hope it works out well. I've been experimenting with these things myself in my own books.

One of the earliest lessons I learned as a child was that if you looked away from something, it might not be there when you looked back.

Remember that a book is many drafts - mine certainly are. It's improvisation. It's as much jazz and the way we talk and the way I heard people preach coming up as it is writing.

We're dreamers and - since we only have one life, and if we screw up we can get in a world of trouble - we're very intense dreamers.

Hell, I'm going to play pro basketball. I'm going to maybe be famous. I'm going to write books.

Books are an attempt to control something that's uncontrollable.

If I had only a negative side of things to present, I think I would have much less of a drive to do it. Because what would be the point?