WRITE AGAINST COMFORT
Literature need not be punitive. It may, however, refuse to be comfortable. I look for places where the reader must rearrange what they thought they knew.
Form must leave a physical trace.
DO NOT FETISHIZE VIOLENCE
Prison, rape, murder, illness, coercive control: these realities do not interest me as accessories of darkness. They matter only when they shift perception, language or responsibility.
Form must leave a physical trace.
FORM IS A MORAL CHOICE
Repetition, silence, ellipsis, cuts, fragmentation: formal devices decide as much as plot what the text allows us to see.
Form must leave a physical trace.
LEAVE SOMETHING UNRESOLVED
A novel can close its final page without closing its problem.
Form must leave a physical trace.