I Think That Thing About

So In The First Draft, I'm Inventing People And Place With A Broad Schematic Idea Of What's Going To Happen. In The Process, Of Course, I Discover All Sorts Of Bigger And More Substantial Things.

I Don't Separate My Books Into Historical Novels And The Rest. To Me, They're All Made-up Worlds, And Both Kinds Are Borne Out Of Curiosity, Some Investigation Into The Past.

I Think It's Really Boring, From The Point Of View Of The Novelist, To Write About Yourself. Tedious. But That's Very Hard To Explain To People Who Really Don't Believe In The Possibility Of Invention.

One Has To Be Able To Twist And Change And Distort Characters, Play With Them Like Clay, So Everything Fits Together. Real People Don't Permit You To Do That.

(from The Story The Last Days Of A Famous Mime) He Said Nothing. He Was Mildly Annoyed At Her Presumption: That He Had Not Thought This Many, Many Times Before. With Perfect Misunderstanding She Interpreted His Passivity As Disdain. Wishing To Hurt Him, She Slapped His Face. Wishing To Hurt Her, He Smiled Brilliantly.