My joy as a writer is circling around and around and down and down to find out who the real person is.

I'm not a real person. I'm a legend.

For me, a happy ending is not everything works out just right and there is a big bow, it's more coming to a place where a person has a clear vision of his or her own life in a way that enables them to kind of throw down their crutches and walk.

I feel very protective in the first draft, when all the pieces are coming together. I work in a way that is not linear or chronological at all, even with the short story. I will just be writing bits and pieces, and then when I have all the pieces on the table, that for me is when it feels like the real work begins.

I rarely play a real person, because I don't think I'm a good imitator.

None of the characters I played was very close to me as a real person.