I write to find out what the story means to me, that is what I try to do especially with the first draft.

Take what people give you. Drink their milkshakes.

I think I write fiction for the opportunity to get beyond the limits of my own life.

Only there's two sides to every story, you know. You just remember that.

Dialogue comes naturally to me and I can hear the characters' voices in the scenes.

However far fiction writers stray from their own lives and experiences - and I stray pretty far from mine - I think, ultimately, that we may be writing what we need to write in some way, albeit unconsciously.

I'm a very rooted person. I grew up in Norwich, Connecticut, I still live in Connecticut.