To see the world for a moment as something rich and strange is the private reward of many a discovery.
I like writing people from a slightly sharp angle and then throwing more light on them. I think in life we see somebody and make judgments very quickly about who they are and what they are. Or we think people are boring because they appear ordinary.
We think that we know people from this constellation of points: 'I know that story. I know that girl. I've heard that story a thousand times.' But actually, you never know that story.
I picked books by their covers - the worse the cover, the more I wanted to read it.
A world constructed from the familiar is the world in which there's nothing to learn.
I call it 'The Breakfast Club' philosophy. There's something about being trapped in a dire situation with a group of people that you would never normally be trapped with.
Differences challenge assumptions.
I personally tend to be drawn to stories that aren't paid much attention to, or stories that aren't on people's radar.
The fiction I tend to like is nothing like my own work. I like the kind of writing that shows me things I don't know about, and what I don't know about is the everyday, normal world.
I like books that don't give you an easy ride. I like the feeling of discomfort. The sense of being implicated.
I like to look in the crevices of things, the nooks and the crannies. I like to see the things other people don't see, don't want to look at.
