"Dubus frowns on writers' groups, believing they lead members astray from the work at hand.  His father told him that a novelist is like a whale submerged in the ocean.  You're down there alone, and you're supposed to be down there alone.  'It makes us face our own mortality,' he says.  'Working alone on a 300-to-400-page project for five years all by yourself brings you right to the starkness of coming into the world alone and leaving alone, as we all do.'"