If a novelist tells you something she knows or thinks, and you believe her, that is not because either of you think she is God, but because she is doing her work - as a novelist.

I don't like gurus. I don't like people who ask you to follow or believe. I like people who ask you to think independently.

I think vestigially there's a synesthete in me, but not like a real one who immediately knows what colour Wednesday is.

I hated being a novelist when I was 20 - I had nothing to write about.

I like to write about painting because I think visually. I see my writing as blocks of color before it forms itself. I think I also care about painting because I'm not musical. Painting to me is not a metaphor for writing, but something people do that can never be reduced to words.

I think the virtue I prize above all others is curiosity. If you look really hard at almost anybody, and try to see why they're doing what they're doing, taking a dig at them ceases to be what you want to do even if you hate them.