Writer Maxine Swann evokes emotionally rich worlds with deceptively simple language. Her lyrical second novel, Flower Children, follows four kids of warm but shockingly unconventional parents as they run free at home and struggle to fit into the world at large. Swann, 38, lives in Buenos Aires and has received Ploughshares' Cohen Award for best fiction of the year, an O. Henry Award, and a Pushcart Prize.

Is Flower Children based on your childhood?

Like most fiction, it's much more related to a dream reality than to what actually happened. I altered certain things to be the way I'd always wanted them to be. Fiction allows for that kind of satisfaction.

How well do you know your characters?

I don't think you have to understand everything about your characters. I think you have to want to. The desire is important. And then a click can happen—one deep, central law you come upon that governs their behavior and makes them come to life.

Are you an above-average mind reader?

I might be. I'm getting more perceptive with age. As the racket in my own mind quiets down, I'm freer to divine what's in others' minds. I've been told that I'm particularly adept at gathering an immense amount of often intimate information in a very short time, say during 20 minutes at a party.

On the other hand, I can also be a terrible mind reader, especially in love situations, where my own fate is at stake. I'm able to come up with all kinds of fantastic and false situations relating to what the other person is thinking or feeling. As they say, jealous people are among the most imaginative.

Are you easy to read?

I seem to have developed some pretty heavy-duty camouflage tactics. For example, when I'm anxious, I appear at my most calm. I have a very perceptive friend who reads me in a way I sometimes find disturbing. She anticipates feelings that I'm not even aware yet that I'm having.

Do you share your fears and aspirations with others?

I used to feel an obligation to share almost everything. Somewhere along the line, I realized this wasn't necessary. Keeping my secrets to myself delights me. It gives me power to step out on my own into the world.

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