Maybe that's what we look for in the people we love, the spark of unhappiness we think we know how to extinguish.

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.

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

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.

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

When things don't go well, it helps to think of yourself as a genius and the rest of the world as a bunch of idiots.

My wife and I left New York when she got pregnant - we just thought it would be really hard to stay in the city.