Quote

People say if you're doing an art project, that's different from a book, but I honestly don't see it. I try and try, and I just don't.

A book makes claims of literary art.

It doesn't matter what kind of book you write - you ought to write it well and with some kind of style and elegance.

A book can be wonderful and powerful and accessible and artful all at the same time.

Certainly one of the surprising truths of having a book published is realizing that your book is as open to interpretation as an abstract painting. People bring their own beliefs and attitudes to your work, which is thrilling and surprising at the same time.

I think very visually, and I just never thought I had a novel in me.

The novel is the first art form that is an honest-to-god commodity. That's what makes it different from both high art and folk art.

I begin a book with imagery, more than I do with an idea or a character. Some kind of poetic image.

Making books is a very specific kind of activity. It's not really a collection of your best pictures - although it is - but it's also a way of presenting your work so that it's not repetitive, so that it flows, and so that it makes sense in a book.

I think of every book as a single entity, and some have later gone on to become a series, often at the request of readers.