“I devour psychology books because they help me understand my characters; I’m fascinated by the revolutionary ideas of social psychologist Philip Zimbardo. If I’m having trouble writing a scene I examine scenes in novels I’ve read in the past. It’s a confidence booster to see that a famous author faced similar challenges and made good. I listen to poetry on my iPod; Dorothy Barresi is a contemporary favorite of mine. I’m inspired by the poetics of hip-hop artists like Mos Def and the Roots. But I can’t stick to any one writing routine or ritual forever because if I get bored with the ritual, my writing gets bored with me.”
—Margaux Fragoso, author of Tiger, Tiger (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011)