Novelist

Art requires choices, the more specific, the better.

In general, the human race is still a young organism.

I used to live in New York, and I know a number of people who have friends who work at galleries. I spent time hanging out with them, going to openings. It was a good way to do research, to hang out and to look at the art that was present.

I don't intend to write the same kind of book for the rest of my life because I feel I would not be satisfied only writing in one mode.

When I was four, we went to Oahu. It was the first time we celebrated Passover away from home.

The most important lesson my parents taught me is that writing is a job, one that requires discipline and commitment. Most of the time it's a fun job, a wonderful job, but sometimes it isn't, and those are the days that test you.

People are interested in writing, and often there's an unjustifiable sense of people to believe my talking to them for the book is going to accord them any sort of fame. Which it won't. At the same time, they can be more circumspect if they know they're on the record.

Naturally, it was easier for me to envision becoming a novelist than it is for most people. I had two great in-house teachers; I had parents who considered a career in the arts a real possibility rather than a dreamy arrow shot into the sky.

The mystery form was very helpful for me as a beginning writer because mystery novels and suspense novels have a beginning, a middle and an end.

I remember my father banging away on an IBM Selectric in the garage. He wrote his first novels on that machine. I remember its pebbly surface, its cold heft. It made its mark, literally and violently.

People are both more willing and less willing to talk to you when you're a writer.

All my books deal with the effect of intent upon action, how our understanding of good and evil depends heavily on context.

It's much easier to identify and fix problems in language and timing when you hear the words being read.

It's always been a struggle to differentiate myself, but I like my parents. I enjoy doing events with them, and I don't feel I should purposely avoid something just for the sake of being different.

Tragedy without comedy is melodrama, and comedy without a higher purpose is vacant.

I had some trepidation about working with someone else, especially a family member. You don't want work to affect your personal relationship.

I had some experience writing collaboratively when I wrote for the theatre.

I ought to be more hardboiled; I'd like to be. I don't think I have it in me. To write in clipped sentences. To employ gritty metaphor in the introduction of sultry blondes... I can't do it, so why bother trying?

Five people read my work before its ready for publication, and I solicit opinions from all of them: my wife, my agent, my editor, and my parents.

The final product in a play is not just the written word. It's the production, the performance. The script is, of course, a very important piece; but it's only one element. Ultimately, yours is one of several voices. People can change your work in a play for better or worse.