I think a lot of what is going on with kids who get pushed too far and attempt either murder or suicide is that they are trying to deal with their own non-existence for the people who are supposed to care most for them.

You use simple brushstrokes in a screenplay for things over which you would take much greater pains in a novel.

I have to have a character worth caring about. I tend not to start writing books about people I don't have a lot of sympathy for because I'm just going to be with them too long.

Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece.

Structure is one of the things that I always hope will reveal itself to me.

I've never written nearly as much about place as people seem to think I do. I just write about class.

I'm delighted by how Nobody's Fool turned out. It was a rare movie.