I think political situations usually work their way into my writing, but not necessarily in an explicit way. The environment is so chaotic now. There is someone so entirely unreliable in charge, and reliable only in the fact that Thing - I don't say his name - is a pathological narcissist. He's going to do whatever he can to defend himself and whatever will make him look good. That's what matters to him.

I like to invent the dialogue that I want to have heard.

People, no matter the economic class, find ways to feed their narcissism.

Wanting to know all kinds of things is perfect for novelists, because novelists are generalists. We're not specialists in anything, except, hopefully, writing.

Reading gave me great comfort and pleasure. When I started being able to write, around seven or eight, I wanted to be able to do that myself, to create that other world.

I'm interested in reality but I'm not interested in realism at all. I'm interested in the ways that I think people want to relate.

Obviously the Internet makes everything easier - you get people's addresses and so on and everything seems much more accessible.