Before I undertake a lengthy project, I have usually given much thought to it over a period of years. My files are filled with likely subjects - which perhaps, one day, I will develop.

Obviously, there is pleasure in the execution of any sort of art, and using language, as Nabokov felt also, is an exquisite process.

Exotic: meaning you're "desired." For madness is seductive, sexy. Female madness. So long as the female is reasonably young and attractive.

Productivity is a relative matter. And it's really insignificant: What is ultimately important is a writer's strongest books.

I learned long ago that being Lewis Carroll was infinitely more exciting than being Alice.

Writing allows for fictitious voices - the voices of persons unlike myself - that might otherwise be muted.

Though I revise constantly as I write, I will usually revise much of the work again after I've reached the ending.