Nerds are just deep, and neurotic, fans. Needy fans. We're all nerds, on one subject or another.

Making books has always felt very connected to my bookselling experience, that of wanting to draw people's attention to things that I liked, to shape things that I liked into new shapes.

I believe that written stories will continue to survive because they answer an essential human need. I think movies might disappear before the novel disappears, because the novel is really one of the only places in the world where two strangers can meet on terms of absolute intimacy.

For me, music is sort of the art that I can't incorporate into my person the way I want to.

You don’t have the slightest idea of what it means to write a scene and a character in the English language, with images and words chock full of received meaning.

I grew up with an artist father, and my parents' friends were also mainly artists or writers, so he connects what I do with his example.

I plan less and less. It's a great benefit of writing lots, that you get good at holding long narratives in your head like a virtual space.