I think my writing changed when I put 'the' in front of my titles. It had more command.

Some people are uncomfortable saying what they feel.

We all want to write the kind of book that we want to read. If you put in the things that you are thinking about and create characters who feel like they could live - at least for me, that's the way I want to write.

'Pleasure' is a word I think about a lot, as opposed to 'entertainment.' They are very, very different.

I think a lot of the dull parts of first drafts come from a kind of over-managing, intrusive writer who wants to direct traffic. The idea of taking out the parts that the reader could infer is very liberating, and it's weirdly part of radicalizing your work: it allows you to go to new places fast.

When you have a book out, it's like a period of protracted or concentrated megalomania, and it's really not normal or good for you or any of that.

I don't write autobiographically.

I do want to say the process of writing a novel is riddled with self-doubt and self-loathing.

As a novelist, I feel lucky that I can traffic in nuance. I'm more interested in looking at how things change over time, at how people try and sometimes fail to make meaning out of their lives.

It's hard for me to feel bad when I'm writing well.