It Had Occurred To Him

Identity Issues Are Hardwired Into The Way I Think About Character - It's Almost As If I Can't Get Away From Them Even If I Want To.

I Start With An Image, Then I Go From The Image Toward Exploring The Situation. Then I Write A Scene, And From The Scene I Find The Character, From The Character I Find The Larger Plot. It's Like Deductive Reasoning - I Start With The Smaller Stuff And Work Backward.

Even When Our Death Is Imminent, We Carry The Image Of Ourselves Moving Forward, Alive, Into The Future.

A Novel Requires A Certain Kind Of World Building And Also A Certain Kind Of Closure, Ultimately. Whereas With A Short Story You Have This Sense That There Are Hinges That The Reader Doesn't See. I Would Say That All Short Stories Have Mystery Naturally Built Into Them.

I've Never Been Able To Sleep Very Much, Even When I Was A Kid. I Used To Hate Being Forced To Lay In Bed In The Darkness, And Just Shifting In Bed And Staring At The Shadows.