Life and people are complex. A writer as an artist doesn't have the personality of a politician. We don't see the world that simply.

I never change, I simply become more myself.

I was brought up to be sympathetic toward others.

Before you can write a novel you have to have a number of ideas that come together. One idea is not enough.

I want to tell you that I love you I want to tell you that I love you I want to tell you that I love I love I love I love but you do not.

I remember once asking Grandma about a book she was reading, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and how she answered me: this was the first conversation of my life that concerned a book, and 'the life of the mind' - and now, such subjects have become my life.

I think all art comes out of conflict. When I write I am always looking for the dramatic kernel of an event, the junctures of people's lives when they go in one direction, not another.