That question reminds me of a podcast interview she did ages ago. She was pretty upfront about how it wasn't some grand, single moment of inspiration. She said it was more of a gradual, almost grudging, giving-in to the urge. She mentioned a childhood filled with books, sure, but also a real disconnect from the stories being told—like they were happening in rooms she wasn't allowed into.
She specifically talked about wanting to put the feelings of displacement she grew up with into words, the kind that sit in your stomach and don't have a name. Her first attempts were these really messy, private stories that she says were more like emotional blueprints than anything readable. The inspiration, for her, seems less about a 'calling' and more about carving out a space that didn't exist before. It's less 'I want to be an author' and more 'I have to build this particular shelf'.
Honestly, I think her background in linguistics shows. There's this deliberate, almost architectural approach to building a voice from the ground up, piece by piece, which feels like the core of what got her putting words on a page.