Leave, with no answer. Move on to the next question.

In short, I'm pretty suspicious of the idea that there's a real and true and authentic world, and then a bunch of false ones.

You need a constant money source to live in New York City unless you're independently wealthy, which I'm not. But, from writing about art, I had met some artists in L.A. They said, "Why don't you try living out here?" So I traded apartments with the painter Delia Brown. That was in 2003. I loved it. I still love living there.

My natural orientation has never been among a community of writers, really. For some reason my social world has always been in the art world.

I begin a book with imagery, more than I do with an idea or a character. Some kind of poetic image.

It's really a misconception to identify the writer with the main character, given that the author creates all the characters in the book. In certain ways, I'm every character.

Danzon is my favorite Cuban music, played by a traditional string orchestra with flute and piano. It's very formally structured but romantic music, which derives from the French-Haitian contradance.