Quote

While I'm writing, I'm also the first reader, and I want to write a book where I'm excited about what happens next.

You want to suggest something new, but at the same time, resolve the drama of the action in the novel.

Novels for me are how I find out what's going on in my own head. And so that's a really useful and indeed critical thing to do when you do as many of these other things as I do.

I look for two things when I am about to launch into a book. First, there has to be a dramatic arc to the story itself that will carry me, and the reader, from beginning to end. Second, the story has to weave through larger themes that can illuminate the world of the subject.

Don't ever let the other stuff get in the way of your inherent skills as a kick-butt storyteller. Move the reader, make them happy and sad and excited and scared. Make them stare into space after they've put the book down, thinking about the tale that's become a part of them.

I never know what's going to happen in a novel. I don't have a plan or an outline.

To me, novels are a trip of discovery, and you discover things that you don't know and you assume that many of your readers don't know, and you try to bring them to life on the page.

I just have to proceed as usual. No matter what happens, nothing helps with the writing of the next book.

I love novels where not much 'happens' but where the interest is in the ideas and analyses of characters.

The writing is really important in books that affect me. I read for the writing. The story is usually of less interest to me. It's the words that break your heart.