I don't want to be callous about it, but we all seemed to get over the Oklahoma bombing pretty quickly, and we're never going to get over 9/11.

For a long time, I didn't think I wanted to live in the Ozarks or write about the region. It seemed to be a sure recipe for obscurity, and to be obscure was not my conscious ambition.

When I started to be a writer, I was not going to run the risk of boring you.

I'm always writing about character first. Plot, such as it is, comes from the characters.

Earned a bachelor's at 27, then an M.F.A. that is still completely unused and in mint condition, never taken out of the box.

I've bumped into at least three people in town who all insist 'Winter's Bone' is about them.