“Part of being a fiction writer is being able to imagine how someone else is thinking and feeling. I think I've always been good at that.”

“My sister called her pillow a pilgo. My brother called his pacifier his nimma. But I don't think I was much of a word generator myself.”

“I had a high school English teacher who made me really work at writing. And once, when I got an assignment back, she'd written: 'This is so good, Andrew. This should be published!' That made...”