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I became a writer because I love books, and I believe in their power.

There's this creative thing in me that wants to have my work used - like the author of a book who wants it read.

I try to create characters that I am fascinated by on some level or intrigued by or can't stand.

I always have a book that I use that somehow inspires my novels.

My book sales make 'real writers' possible.

My novels come from within me; they are things I feel I want to do.

Honestly, I get character ideas from the most inane places. Sometimes a song will give me an idea. Sometimes I will just hear a snippet of conversation that ends up having nothing to do with the book that emerges.

I write in a very peculiar way. I think about a book for 25 or 30 years in a kind of inchoate way, and at one point or another, I realize the book is ready to be written. I usually have a character, a first line, and general idea of what the book is going to be about.

I've got more ideas for books than I'll ever be able to use in my lifetime. I'm very fortunate like that.

I can't inhabit my characters until I know what kind of work they do. This requires research because my jobs for the last decade have been author and professor, and I'd like to spare the world more author or professor novels.