Years ago, Janet Fitch's gorgeous White Oleander knocked Oprah's socks off, and when her long-awaited second novel, Paint It Black, came out, the writer talked about the nuts, bolts, and bolts of lightning of writing and how "in our imaginations, we can be anyone."

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I first talked with Janet Fitch in 1999, the year I chose her debut novel, White Oleander , for my book club. Page after page, I fell in love with a story that deeply moved me, and vivid passages that described the sky as the color of peaches and compared sorrow to the taste of a copper penny. So last summer, when I heard someone in my office say, "I was reading the advance copy of Janet Fitch's new novel...," I practically leaped on the phone to request my own copy from the publisher. Paint It Black, set in 1980 in punk-rock Los Angeles, comes out this month. Before I dug in, I gave Janet a call.

Start reading Oprah's interview with Janet Fitch

Note: This interview appeared in the September 2006 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

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