I think it's true that unless human beings experience something, they simply don't understand what people are going through.

There are lots of unlikable characters in literature. It doesn't mean they're not fascinating.

It's not the writer who determines how good she is anyway. Writers don't determine that. It's readers who determine that.

Without curiosity a writer is dead.

I think many writers really believe that being published is a traumatic experience.

I think those women who get themselves to write essays, it's not an easy thing to do because as women, you're not encouraged to think; you're encouraged to feel. This is a broad, broad statement. So I think those women who go out on a limb and publish essays are highly conscious of how they are writing their opinions.

The literary world is more time-traveling than the art world, and novelty is much more important in art than it is in writing.