From a distance, it makes perfect sense that the people and the things you think will save you are the very ones that have the power to disappoint you most bitterly, but up close it can hit you as a bewildering surprise.

My novels are certainly more exciting than my own life.

I was writing very early, like I was involved in our high school literary magazine, which was called 'Pariah.' The football team was the Bears, and the literary magazine was 'Pariah.' It was great. It was definitely a real sub-culture. But I wrote stories for them.

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

I don't really distinguish between sympathy and honesty when I'm writing. The two go together - I'm interested in inhabiting my characters, seeing the world through their eyes.

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 was also known as Frodo because I was an early adopter of 'The Lord of the Rings.