A Good Album Should Be More Than

I Wrote My First Short Story For A Competition And Won Second Prize. Another Competition Came Up And I Won First Prize. The First Story Was Published In A Newspaper. The Second Went Out On Radio.

I Took The First James Kelman Novel, 'the Bus Conductor Hines', Home To My Dad. I Thought, 'my Dad Will Like This; It's Written In Scots.' But My Dad Said: 'i Can't Read That.' He Was Reading James Bond And John Le Carre. That Was Part Of What Attracted Me To Crime - The Idea Of Getting A Wide Audience.

No Matter How Many Awards You've Won Or How Many Sales You've Got, Come The Next Book It's Still A Blank Sheet Of Paper And You're Still Panicking Like Hell That You've Got Nothing New To Say.

From This Height The Sleeping City Seems Like A Child's Construction, A Model Which Has Refused To Be Constrained By Imagination. The Volcanic Plug Might Be Black Plasticine, The Castle Balanced Solidly Atop It A Skewed Rendition Of Crenellated Building Bricks. The Orange Street Lamps Are Crumpled Toffee-wrappers Glued To Lollipop Sticks.

The Most Difficult Part Of Any Crime Novel Is The Plotting. It All Begins Simply Enough, But Soon You're Dealing With A Multitude Of Linked Characters, Strands, Themes And Red Herrings - And You Need To Try To Control These Unruly Elements And Weave Them Into A Pattern.