I write to find out what I think.

I don't really map anything out. I just let it happen [while writing]. But once it happens, it's always there. If it's laid, it's played. If I get to page 300 and it's not working, I junk it.

Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.

if you tell yourself the great lie of bad art-that you are in charge-your chance at the truth will be lost. The truth isn't always pretty.

I think telling stories is like pushing something. Pushing against uncreation itself, maybe.

Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant.

We sometimes need to create unreal monsters and bogies to stand in for all the things we fear in our real lives.