Denis Johnson, winner of this year’s National Book Award for Tree of Smoke, offers his readers these bits of hard, fragrant supari during an interview:

Q: What drew you to the story?
DJ: I have no idea.

Q: How does the book compare to other prose you’ve written?
DJ: It’s longer and, despite what anybody says, more conscientiously plotted.

Q: Were there moments in your writing process where you worried the book wouldn’t work? If so, how did you press on?
DJ: Well, I’ve never thought about this before, but now that you ask, it occurs to me I don’t have much interest whether any of my books work or not.

Via Paper Cuts