As much as I care about historical context - I'm very eager to read a really great historical account.

Writing is physical for me. I always have the sense that the words are coming out of my body, not just my mind.

The world's large enough and interesting enough to take a different approach each time you sit down to write about it.

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.

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.

There's something about the rhythms of language that correspond to the rhythms of our own bodies.

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