I think in general, novels by men tend to be taken more seriously than novels by women.
Personally, I have never wished I were a male novelist.
You know, the point of a novel - or to me, the point of a novel, the gift of a novel is to go really deeply inside people's lives and inside their personal experiences.
I feel like if you read something, and it makes you so curious about a topic that you then go read something else, that's exciting.
Well, I think in my first two novels, both the characters are pretty neurotic, which I would say that I am.
I just think that people are complicated, both men and women. It happens that I write more about women.
Well, I think that if you sincerely try to imagine what life is like for another person - not in a mocking way, not in a satirical way, but in a sincere, compassionate way - I don't think that's exploitive.
There are so many people who are so much better qualified to write about politics than I am.
In some ways I think it would be very dignified if I went away for twenty years and then wrote my fourth book.
The fact is that in this day and age I don't think any novelist can assume that a book will get attention.
I don't think it's shameful to admit that some days your time can be better spent reading than writing.
In general, when any of us get outraged by relatively minor pop-cultural phenomena, I suspect it's a way of relaxing and not focussing on more daunting and intractable problems, whether personal or social.
Everything 'Atonement' does, it does incredibly well, including depicting characters of varying ages and temperaments and showing the intensity of early romantic love and connection and the very different intensity of haunting regret.
I grew up in Cincinnati, the birthplace of the creamiest and most delicious ice cream with the hugest chocolate chips. Graeter's used to be available only regionally, but an extravagant thing you could do was overnight-ship six pints to another state, in dry ice.
Weirdly, even as I became more confident as a writer and as a person, I completely lost faith in my own ability to shop for clothes.
In 2013, before the publication of my fourth novel, I met with a stylist at Nordstrom. Since then, I've rarely shopped for 'event clothes' on my own. I usually do it with my sisters or a friend; if I'm alone, I take pictures of myself in the dressing room and text them to my sisters.
There are always interesting, innovative, dynamic stories being written and being published. They're not always being prominently published, but they're being published.
I should probably be careful admitting this, but sometimes, when my characters are having a disagreement, it's a disagreement I'm having with myself. I can see both sides of the argument.
A lot of times, in a store, clothes appear strange to me, their cuts or flourishes arbitrary. Why is this look stylish now? How long will it be stylish for? It's slightly embarrassing to admit this - because, as a novelist, I'm supposed to be observant - but I'm flummoxed by the way other women dress.
I think there are people who think 'high school was the peak of my life,' and there are people who think it was dreadful, and then, I think most people are somewhere in between. I do think that it's normal to experience strong emotions during that time, and I think those emotions stay with you.
