Here are six novelists who have influenced my writing: Marguerite Duras, John Fante, Reinaldo Arenas, Robert Coover, J.D. Salinger and Walker Percy. I think when I write, I’m often trying to create a narrator as compelling as a Salinger character, a narrator with the emotion of a Fante character. I think I try to create the depth of a Walker Percy character (using my own insights, of course). I strive for the economy and solemnity of Marguerite Duras, even though my natural inclination is to tell too much, and to continue telling it. Reinaldo Arenas helped me realize that it can be okay to experiment with different genres within a novel, that a novel can mean different things. Reading Robert Coover encouraged me to stop taking myself so seriously, and helped me realize that there can be something very serious about that approach.
