Anne Tyler

I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.

But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.

My family can always tell when I'm well into a novel because the meals get very crummy.

As a young child my attention span was, as I remember it, rather short.

It took me realizing that a broken heart has never actually killed anyone to find the courage to ask for what I want, in just about every situation. That was part of my own growing up.