I read Tolstoy if I want to learn how to do a dinner party. I also read Gabriel Garcia Marquez to learn how to get that panoramic sense of history in what I write. We’re learning all the time from who we read.—Julia Alvarez, interviewed by Mike Chesar and Constance Pierce

I was pleased to leave for just that reason. It’s only in novels that people do things for one or two reasons. In life we do things for twelve, thirteen, fourteen reasons, and the other reasons we’ve forgotten.—Peter Carey, interviewed by Kevin Bacon and Bill Davis

Sometimes I’ve read paragraphs a hundred times, but I think reading aloud allows me to get physical and use my body so I can see mistakes more clearly. I cut a lot this way. It helps to check dialogue: Is this the wrong rhythm? Are these repetitions?—Andre Dubus, interviewed by Jennifer Levasseur and Kevin Rabalais

I suppose, without knowing it, I was gathering data. It certainly came back for me later. It’s interesting to see what rains back down on you from your life—the things that come get you and haunt you and bother you, things that may or may not end up in the writing.—Ron Carlson, interviewed by Susan McInnis

Issue #14 WA14$6.00