In an interview with Chris Rose, the son of writer Anne Rice ( a novelist himself ) had this to say when asked about New Orleans’ effect on a person who has lived there:

“To be from New Orleans is to enter into a contract with it, that you will try to articulate its magic to those who are not from there, to those who can’t help but see it through the lens of fantasy and cliché. New Orleans bombards your senses without regard for discretion of gentility, so to have spent any time at all here means you have been branded by its purple sunsets, to have been given memories that, quite simply, could not have been made anywhere else.”

Thanks to my mom for the link to the article.