My tunnel vision allows me to have a longer work day than most writers. I'm thankful for that.

The point of reading is to inhabit a consciousness that doesn't belong to the reader, immersing yourself in a life that's wholly realized. And a huge facet of our psychic and existential make-ups is the things we're not proud of, things we didn't ask to experience, the scenarios we flubbed.

My father deprived me of any truths about himself. He died without ever letting me know who he truly was. I only knew his facades, basically. And it breaks my heart that he never trusted me enough to tell me the truth.

I just thought it was important that people knew right from the jump that I've got problems. But in all seriousness, that's a huge part of my writing process.

I always feel that as the author, once I know what a character is ashamed of, then I can go about making her truthful on the page.

I'm a very tactile learner, so I need analog index cards, moving them all about, trying out various sequences for the book's architecture.

It's important to write like your readers are brilliant.