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I think, above all, the characters in my novels feel universal to the readers.

I believe that, like most writers, my personality comes through in the fiction. So in that respect my writing can't be like any other author's really.

No, I feel like my personality probably influenced the character, more than the character influenced me.

Part of me becomes the characters I'm writing about. I think readers feel like they are there, the way I am, as a result.

I guess that in a lot of ways, my writing is more of a character to me than something that I feel personally attached to.

I am, as are most writers, just hugely obsessive, and so are many of my closest friends, who tend to be writers or scientists. It's a trait of human nature that I'm particularly in touch with. So I tend to project it onto my characters.

I've always thought a novelist only has one character, and that is himself or herself. In my case, me.

All writers are obviously neurotic... For various reasons, writers retreat into an imaginary world because they find ordinary life rather difficult or boring or both.

I like to play these unconventional characters, yes. They're close to the way I feel as a human being.

Actually, in my own life I think I probably feign neuroses to be more interesting than I am.