Kids are naturally inventive and curious and creative, but most adults have had that beaten out of them. Writing is a form of play; you have to get rid of all those internal censors that we adults have, the things that say, 'Don't go there, that's not allowed.

If the culture is so all pervasive that you can’t think outside of it, how are you making genuine choices?

You know how if you're born in a certain situation you always expect your life to run on a steady trajectory? I've never really had a sense of that. I assume that life is going to go up and down.

People always want to identify a writer with their protagonist.

I'm very eclectic in my music tastes - anything from Nina Simone to Beethoven to Talvin Singh.

The thing about getting older is that you don't need everything to be possible any more, you just need things to be certain.

I always try to create conflict and drama in my books; it's the engine of the novel.