If writers stuck to firsthand experience, novels would be pretty limited.

Initially I only decided to try and write a novel because I wasn't getting enough screenwriting work. It wasn't a long-held ambition, and certainly the idea came first.

I despise this weakness in myself - this endless one-sided conversation that takes the place of action.

If writers stuck to firsthand experience, novels would be pretty limited.

I definitely do feel a pull toward people and places that are far from my own life.

Clearly the secret of happiness...is a variation on the general principle of banging your head against a wall, and then stopping.

I suppose the short chapters and differing narrative points of view are quite "cinematic" devices, which came very naturally to me.