But I have always - ever since The Accidental Woman - written novels about individuals attempting to make choices in the context of situations over which they have no control.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Sometime early in life, I developed the notion - one which I have never relinquished - that writing a novel is the very finest thing a person can do.
As a novelist, I have always been interested in how people come to terms with difficult, life-altering events.
I'm always captivated by stories of women who find a way to be daring - misbehaving women.
I try to write about a woman finding her self-respect, valuing herself, and liking herself again. But what one desperately wants now is to write a proper novel.
I abhor crime novels in which the main character can behave however he or she pleases, or do things that normal people do not do, without those actions having social consequences.
I try to write about real women, real people - in other words flawed characters.
Novel-writing is the only place where someone who would have liked to do anything can still do that vicariously.
I never know as a writer when I set out into a novel where it's going to take me.
Being a writer was never a choice, it was an irresistible compulsion.
The novel, for me, was an accident. I really don't consider myself a novelist.