Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.
Source: Interview in Writers at Work (Eighth Series, ed. by George Plimpton, 1988).
-- John Irving, (Mar 2 1942-____), US novelist, short-story writer; His novels include The World According to Garp, 1978 and The Hotel New Hampshire, 1981; both were adapted to films.