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Every good story is about who we are and our struggle to define ourselves.

I think there's a natural link between the fact that our self is a story that we make up and that we're drawn to stories. It resonates, in a way.

We tell ourselves stories in order to live.

No matter what writers say, most stories are about ourselves. The facts might change a little, but not much.

We're so complex; we're mysteries to ourselves; we're difficult to each other. And then storytelling reminds us we're all the same.

No, the thing is, we all love storytelling, and as a writer you get to tell stories all the time.

Telling stories and having them received is so important. That dialogue is everything. I tell my students all the time that what separates us as human beings is our ability to hold stories. Our narrative history. There is so much power in that. Storytelling is our human industry.

In America, the stories we tell ourselves and we tell each other in fiction have to do with individualism. Every person here is the center of his or her own story. And our job as people and as characters is to find our own motivations and desires, to overcome conflicts and obstacles toward defining ourselves so that we grow and change.

We all have stories we're living and telling ourselves.

I actually think one of my strengths is my storytelling.