I think one of the things you have to learn if you're going to create believable characters is never to make generalizations about groups of people.

Madness doesn't happen to someone alone. Very few people have experiences that are theirs alone.

I don't remember deciding to become a writer. You decide to become a dentist or a postman. For me, writing is like being gay. You finally admit that this is who you are, you come out and hope that no one runs away.

Appalling things can happen to children. And even a happy childhood is filled with sadnesses.

I find people confusing.

Indeed, I am repeatedly astonished by the number of really good writers who understand human beings so well on paper but don't know how to deal with them in real life.

There's something with the physical size of America... American writers can write about America and it can still feel like a foreign country.