Everybody has a world, and that world is completely hidden until we begin to inquire. As soon as we do, that entire world opens to us and yields itse….

When I went to college I took a creative writing class and decided in a week to be a writer..

Fiction is socially meaningful..

Even though I may not intend it when I set out to write the book, these places just emerge as major players in what I'm doing, almost as if they are ….

There are things in this universe that we cannot control, and then there are the things we can. . . . Let fate, coincidence, and accident conspire; h….

Writers shouldn’t underestimate the difficulty of what they’re doing, and they should treat it with great seriousness. You’re doing something that re….

None of those other things makes a difference. Love is the strongest thing in the world, you know. Nothing can touch it. Nothing comes close. If we l….

I grew up in Seattle, but I always knew I wanted to leave..

The best advice on writing I've ever received is to take it seriously, because to do it well is all-consuming..

What some people interpret as brooding melancholy is serenity. I don't feel required to grasp all the time..

When it comes time to sit down and write the next book, you're deathly afraid that you're not up to the task. That was certainly the case with me aft….

I know you'll think this is crazy, but all I want to do is hold you, and I think that if you'll let me do that just for a few seconds, I can walk awa….

A literary achievement of the highest order..

Time made me change. I gradually woke up to the realization that this is who I am, an author, a public figure, and I couldn't just hide in my study, ….

At one level you're condemned to the voice you have. But within those confines, you have a certain amount of freedom to range among your possible voi….

Well, I think it’s extraordinarily fun to write, and I look forward to it every day, but that doesn’t mean I think it’s easy. There’s a difference be….

I think you have an obligation to share what you know as a writer..

To persevere is always a reflection of the state of one's inner life, one's philosophy and one's perspective.

I write because something inner and unconscious forces me to. That is the first compulsion. The second is one of ethical and moral duty. I feel respo….

I'm interested in themes that endure from generation to generation..

The strange thing was, he wanted to like everyone. He just couldn't find a way to do it..