Each genre has something to teach me about the others. Not all the lessons are transferable, but many of the most important ones are.

The poem has to bear the weight with image, language... the screenplay with dialogue, plot.

I try not to divide plot and character. I get to know a character by what they want and fear and how those internal forces play out in their lives.

Basically if you burst into my office the walls themselves will flutter as if alive - maybe that's the reason for all the wings in 'Pure.

You want the greatest trick for writing a novel? Here it is: imagine urgently whispering your story into one person's ear - and only one. This one visualization will clarify every word choice you make.

As a writer, my main objective is to tell the story urgently - as if whispering it into one ear - and to know the characters intimately.

I want women writers to write boldly, wildly, deeply. I want them to feel really liberated to tell the brutal truth, however they see that truth and are moved to tell it.