“Although a novel takes place in the larger world, there's always some ...” — Joan Didion Quote

“Although a novel takes place in the larger world, there's always some drive in it that is entirely personal - even if you don't know it while you're doing it.”

“I have never started a novel - I mean except the first, when I was starting a novel just to start a novel - I've never written one without rereading Victory. It opens up the possibilities of a novel. It makes it seem worth doing.”

“Yes, but another writer I read in high school who just knocked me out was Theodore Dreiser. I read An American Tragedy all in one weekend and couldn't put it down - I locked myself in my room. Now that was antithetical to every other book I was reading at the time because Dreiser really had no style, but it was powerful.”

“I don't really base any of my characters on specific people that I know, although my characters are informed by the kind of people who live in my community.”

“Although I'd first seen Senator Hart in Aspen, Colorado, at a New Year's Day party in 1987, we hadn't talked.”

“As for radio and movies, I like the movies better, although the work is much harder. The cinema has microphone technique, staging, and glamour all wrapped up into one.”