Interview: Award-Winning Author on Creative Process

We sat down with this year's Booker shortlistee to talk about the four-year journey of writing a single novel, what kept her at the desk on the bad days, how she handled the doubt, and why she rewrote the opening forty-three times.

Her answers are characteristically generous. She doesn't romanticize the work. "Most days I sit down and write three sentences I'll throw away. The fourth is the one that stays. The job is showing up for the fourth sentence."

We discussed her morning routine, her surprising stance on writing software, the role her editor played in shaping the manuscript, and the moment, eighteen months in, when she nearly abandoned the book entirely.