One of the reasons I'm not so keen on people calling me an "experimental" writer is that it suggests the work is about the experiment, when it's always the opposite - any "experimentation" is dictated by the material.

Before I begin a novel I have a strong sense of at least one central character and how the story begins, and a more vague sense of where things may wind up, but at some point, if the novel is any good at all, the story and characters take on lives of their own and take over the book, and the writer has to be open to that.

I write almost purely by instinct. I've never made an outline.

These days in particular it seems not only unavoidable but even irresponsible to not acknowledge politics in some way.

Certainly the last thing I want is to be "difficult."

While I do believe I become a technically better writer over time, in others ways writing gets harder because inspiration is finite.

I'm my own "ideal reader" in the sense that I write novels that I would want to read.