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Novels usually evolve out of 'character.' Characters generate stories, and the shape of a novel is entirely imagined but should have an aesthetic coherence.

I love getting into physical shape for a film; it makes me feel more like what the character needs to be.

I much prefer a plotted novel to a novel that is really conceptual.

I always think I know the way a novel will go. I write maps on oversized art pads like the kind I carried around in college when I was earnest about drawing. I need to have some idea of the shape of the novel, where its headed, so that I can proceed with confidence. But the truth is my characters start doing and saying things I don't expect.

To me there's no difference between a book of stories and a novel - they're just slightly different shapes.

I like reading novels because it provides insight into human behavior.

One reason I've never been a fan of graphic novels is because a central aspect of literature for me has always been imagining what the things I'm reading about look like.

Life resembles a novel more often than novels resemble life.

I am never really surprised at the way my books take shape. They are just not as perfect as I'd like them to be.