How long did Into the Night Woods take to write?

About four years. I was learning as I wrote; I’d stop and read, study craft, go back and revise.

Everything is hard until you learn how it works.

When I reread No Country for Old Men, I realized: Cormac McCarthy is using simple, direct sentences, few adverbs, moving action along. That kind of clarity helps.

Initially, Into the Night Woods was overly romanticized – “stylized,” as an editor put it – which meant the characters were like caricatures. I had to make them live as unique, original people.

It’s always been important to me to evoke feeling – and you can only do that through language, carefully used. I also wanted my work to sound beautiful, to have a lyrical quality, but not so lyrical that it reads like poetry.