My books start almost before I realise it. Once in a while, some accident causes an idea to rise to the surface and say: 'now.'

There are two books that impressed me when I was very young. One was 'The Adventures of Augie March' - the idea of having something so generous, and so adventurous and improvisatory. The other was 'The U.S.A. Trilogy,' by John Dos Passos.

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.

Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.

I discovered Einstein said the same thing about his celebrated theories of relativity that writers say about their work when he said he didn't have any feelings of personal possession of these ideas. Once they were out there, they came from somewhere else. And that's exactly the feeling when you write. You don't feel possessive about it.

What was once underground is now coming to the surface.