I like to write about the moment of light in the hour of darkness.

I teach a 14-week semester, and one of the things I do when I have to teach literature is, for the first half hour of the class, I have the students write the beginning of a new story every week. At the end of the semester, even if they have learned nothing about literature, at least they'll have 14 beginnings that they can take with them.

I like writing about the evil lurking in apparently good people.

I think even great writers only write two books that you might like. When I think of my touchstone writers like Saul Bellow, I think of 'Henderson the Rain King.' With Don DeLillo, I think of 'Libra.'

When I write, I can become this ecstatic, crazy fellow, hearing the voices and just loosening up and letting them grow.

If you try to write a novel in L.A., you're a chump; everyone is speeding by, and you're driving a rickshaw.