I tend to write about dark things that happen in a very domestic setting 'cause that, to me, is much scarier than the unknown.
Some of the most disturbing, sick relationships I've witnessed are between long-time friends, and especially mothers and daughters.
To me, marriage is the ultimate mystery.
My interest is in turning over a rock and seeing what's underneath. It's a personality trait more than anything; it's what made me want to become a crime reporter, even though I was not suited for it personality-wise.
I'm not hyper-opinionated, but when I do have an opinion, I'm very stubborn, and I want to persuade everyone to my point of view.
I mostly go under the radar, which is fantastic because I would not be a good famous person.
I always loved ghost stories and haunted house stories, whether they were done in a fantasy way or done in a realistic way.
As much as I really like the screenwriting thing, the novel is where the author has so much control.
Women shouldn't be expected to only play nurturing, kind caretakers.
Very quickly, I discovered I did not have what it takes to be a good crime reporter: I was too unassertive and a little bit wimpy. It was very clear that was not what I was going to do, but I loved journalism, and I'm the daughter of a film professor, and my mom taught reading.
My dad was a film professor, so he would take me to wildly inappropriate movies.
I love 'Fatal Attraction.'
I've always had a fondness for the Gothic. That's what kind of stories attract me: Why do people do bad things?
My first two novels featured narrators who were aggressively unattached: They couldn't form any sort of genuine relationship. So I had thoroughly explored the geography of loneliness and isolation.
Being a novelist, you can roam around with a story and indulge yourself.
I'm all for whatever transitions the book properly to a movie.
I'm a true-crime addict. It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but I can't stop.
There are no really new stories anymore.
I can't think of anything more crushing than slowly, over time, realizing exactly how wrong you were about someone.
I think mystery writers and thriller writers - whatever genre you want to call it - are taking on some of the biggest, most interesting kind of socioeconomic issues around in a really interesting, compelling way.
