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The stories that I like to tell and the movies I like are always grounded in the emotional arc of the characters.

When I do my best work, the stories tend to be pretty emotionally-charged.

Bigger stories are made out of longer acquaintance with fact and character, but I also love the tiny stories in which almost everything has to be inferred and imagined.

I've evolved in my writing to tell a more emotional story - my publisher, Random House, has urged that.

Stories can encourage us and embolden us to face ourselves and to feel. Stories can make us feel less alone. If we're reading a story that moves us, we can feel that emotion that I feel towards my father or mother or girlfriend. So they can give us late-night company.

I do see myself as someone who has a lot of story ideas.

My stories are character driven.

Whenever I write, I try and approach my stories from some kind of universal theme or idea or emotion.

I think my sensibilities about storytelling and character just automatically come into play when I'm trying to work on any kind of narrative. For me, it doesn't really matter what the source of the narrative is. I will be looking for ways to make it into an intriguing story with empathetic characters.

When I'm writing, I'm trying to immerse myself in the chaos of an emotional experience, rather than separate myself from it and look back at it from a distance with clarity and tell it as a story. Because that's how life is lived, you know?