When I'm composing a scene for the first time, I try to imitate my character. The less critical distance the better - particularly when they're acting badly.

When I read a book I liked, I would get a pen and one of my father's legal pads and rewrite it from memory as if I had thought of it myself. It was a clear sign that I wanted to be involved in writing, even if it was just pretend at that point.

More than periods where I don't write anything, I have periods where I just write junk and I know I'm writing junk but I can't stop.

In order to describe a particular subculture, you might want to portray people who are typical or representative of that subculture; but to dramatize it, to make it an interesting setting for a story, you want to bring someone anomalous into that setting, to see how she conforms to it, and it to her.

Art, a book, a painting, a song, can definitely inspire change, whether it's a small change or a big change but you know there's novels I've read or a scene in a film that I've seen where I definitely inspired something and made a change or addressed an issue in my life or done something cliche like make a phone call.

In my heart of hearts my motivation would always have been to be the best, and I think that athletics is probably what I was built for.

Basketball gave me an avenue to live my dream, and I just want to help other kids live their dreams through me.

A lot of times, if you're not getting inspiration right away, we'll listen to stuff to get inspired.