I was an English major in college, I went to a creative-writing program, and all my life, I really read and thought about fiction as a craft and an art form. I feel like I know a lot about it, and can trust my instincts.

As for writing about temptation, there's no drama without temptation, and no novel without drama.

They both seemed to understand that describing it was beyond their powers, the gratitude that spreads through your body when a burden gets lifted, and the sense of homecoming that follows, when you suddenly remember what it feels like to be yourself.

I no longer believe that just about everything is funny, if viewed from the proper angle.

I think I'm fascinated by the power of religion in our culture. Like a lot of secular, liberal people, I ignored it for a long time. Lately, of course, just from a political perspective, it's impossible to ignore.

Back then, when everybody thought the world would last forever, nobody had time for anything.

The lesson you have to learn as novelist is how to be collaborative, and how to say, "I don't get to dictate this."