I certainly want to portray the importance of friendship. I had noticed in movies and TV shows that friends often treated one another terribly, and my friends, the few I have, are never cruel to me or unkind, so I wanted to convey that.

Whenever I wrote fiction, people always seemed to think that what I wrote was true, that it was entirely autobiographical. And when I would write non-fiction, they often accused me of exaggeration and fictionalization.

There's no shortage of material in life.

Mostly I have to try to censor myself so as not to write things that will hurt other people, or that will go too far.

I am part of a vast generation of people who perpetually live as if they just graduated from college.

I don't really recognise success. I don't see myself as on an upwardly mobile trajectory. I see myself as on the edge of a cliff about to fall off.

I didn't play or like a lot of board games as a child. I liked playing with my G.I. Joes and making up adventures for them.