When I was writing 'The Abstinence Teacher,' I really tried to immerse myself in contemporary American evangelical culture.

I'm not sure that it's possible to write a novel about people who don't transgress or stumble, people who don't surprise themselves with the things they do, people who can explain all their actions with perfect logical consistency. At least it's not possible for me to write that sort of novel.

If anything, he seemed a little lonely, all too ready to open his heart at the slightest sign of interst.

Apparently even the most awful tragedies, and the people they'd ruined, got a little stale after a while.

A screenwriter heard me read from my novel 'The Wishbones' when it was still in progress and mentioned me to some producers in Hollywood. They called, and I told them I had a novel in my drawer about a high school election that goes haywire. They asked to take a look, and my life changed pretty dramatically as a result.

I write about kids growing up, I write a lot about schools and parents, and all of my experiences with those things have been suburban experiences.

I read 'The Great Gatsby' in high school and was hypnotized by the beauty of the sentences and moved by the story about the irrevocability of lost love.