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I think fiction lends itself to messiness rather than the ideal, and plays well with the ironies surrounding what happens versus what should happen.

Most fiction comes from your experience.

Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life.

So much emotion goes into writing fiction.

I don't generally read a lot of fiction.

I think in our time, you know, so much of the information we get is pre-polarized. Fiction has a way of reminding us that we actually are very similar in our emotions and our neurology and our desires and our fears, so I think it's a nice way to neutralize that polarization.

Good fiction must be entertaining, but what makes fiction special - and True - is that the realness of a novel allows it to carry a larger message.

One reason we love fiction is because stories have a comforting shape. They provide a resolution that's lacking in our regular lives.

Fiction is often most powerful when the author is exploring an issue - and not writing like a know-it-all who has the perfect answer.

Fiction is the best way I know how to think something through.