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To some extent, all authors are a little schizophrenic. We lead most of our lives in solitary confinement, living and breathing the books that we're writing.

Suzanne Collins, it was such a big thing for me to make the handshake with her and to say, 'You can trust me. I will not screw up your books. And I won't let them be diluted and softened. And I won't let them be exploited and made guilty of the sins that are being commented on in the books.' I take that really seriously.

I was really influenced by Joan Didion and Pauline Kael; they were both at the height of their influence when I was coming into my own as a reader.

If I think about the writers I love or might be influenced by, I can't write at all, so I pretend there aren't any.

I go to readings by fiction writers like Alice Walker, and I'm envious of the level of attention they generate.

I surround myself with bizarre people. They're more fun to write about.

I have no illusions concerning the precarious status of my tales and do not expect to become a serious competitor of my favorite weird authors.

Any writer worth the name is always getting into one thing or getting out of another thing.