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My theory on genre is that while there are people out there who believe that genre tells people what to read, actually I believe that genre exists as a marketing tool to tell you what to avoid.

I think my fascination is less with genre figures than with writers in general.

Genre, to me, is not all that important, and it never has been.

Basically, I just write whatever story grabs me rather than considering the genre.

I think that what appeals to me in my work is having the opportunity to inhabit different genres and so to reach different audiences.

Literary fiction, as a strict genre, is all but dead. Meanwhile, most genres flourish.

It all comes down to what is best for those particular genres, and if you believe in the stories that you're telling and the characters that you like that you want to tell those stories with, you can pretty much apply it to any genre.

It doesn't matter to me what the genre is.

Genres do exist because frequent users of any large bookstore can instantly tell what any piece of fiction is supposed to be about by its title, its cover and its location in the shop.

I don't steer clear of genres. I simply haven't steered myself toward some of them.