I had written about a small hamlet upstate, and had been called into a meeting about my story, which, as it turned out, had upset a lot of people.

I think the second, or outsider's, perspective can come as you layer a story. It's as though you've grabbed a secondary character and asked them, "What do you make of this guy?" and the hope is that the answer surprises you as the writer.

I tend to listen to my friends and family empathetically, and I try to help work through their problems from the inside. I try to adopt their thinking.

Being a reporter took me out of myself and that shaped me as a writer.

Of course I'd sometimes have characters from downstate living upstate, but it took a while for me to start writing about where I grew up.

I think narrators expect a high level of intimacy with their readers, and vice versa.

I'm suspicious of epiphanies, because they so rarely last.