I sometimes get asked if I think about film stuff while I'm writing fiction, and the answer is, of course not.

Our need to identify with representative figures is something that never goes away. We still find those in novels. We find those in television. We find them in movies. We find them all over the place.

I sometimes get asked if I think about film stuff while I'm writing fiction, and the answer is, of course not.

One of the weird things about L.A. is that there's always a set of negative perceptions that attaches itself to this city.

Jay-Z isn't actually any better than James Joyce even though more people understand him. I'm more interested in what's meaningful within the lives of individuals. And fiction will always be central to the lives of certain people, which is all that matters.

I think the publishing industry is dismayingly like the movie business. It grows more corporate by the day.

Great books are written from a sense that there is nothing to lose.