And specialness - everyone wants it. But Jesus, is it the most essential thing there is? Most people aren't talented. So what are they supposed to do - kill themselves?

People like to warn you that by the time you reach the middle of your life, passion will begin to feel like a meal eaten long ago, which you remember with great tenderness.

Both my mother and I have close groups of friends that include other writers, and these friendships are very important to us.

"Unputdownable" is, I suppose, something we all dream of, maybe without knowing it. I realized, some time ago, that a novel can hold a lot, and it made sense that this one was not of the sleek and economical variety, but instead the "full" type. Novel as piñata. And the reader does the whacking. I had a central idea, which is to look at what happens to talent over time.

For me, a novel relying too heavily on a single idea might be a dry, deadly thing unless it possesses an animating force.

In The Interestings I wanted to write about what happens to talent over time. In some people talent blooms, in others it falls away.

This post-college world felt different from everything that had come before it.