Quote

Novels are one of the few remaining areas of narrative storytelling where one person does almost all of the creative heavy lifting.

I wanted to hold onto and exploit the power of narrative. This is not only a book about a great storyteller, but there have to be stories about the storyteller.

Good storytelling appeals to me - good writing.

Storytelling is my passion, and it rises from a love of reading.

I always love novels that open up a subject to me - like raising a window to a beautiful, mysterious world outside.

I don't want to go slumming in somebody else's pain just to write a book. I want to go into those darker places to shine a light on that experience and come out with a story that validates the human spirit.

I enjoy receiving and giving realistic fiction, for both children and adults, with strong characters, beautiful language, and humane visions.

I look for two things when I am about to launch into a book. First, there has to be a dramatic arc to the story itself that will carry me, and the reader, from beginning to end. Second, the story has to weave through larger themes that can illuminate the world of the subject.

Rather than a teaching tool, I think a novel is more of a witnessing entity. A witnessing entity? What is that? I just want the reader to step in and experience it as a story.

All my fiction starts from a feeling of unique perception, the pressure of a secret, a story that needs to be told.