I Can't Think Of Anybody Worse To

When You're My Age And You See A Story, You Better Go For It Pretty Quickly. I'd Just Like To Get A Few More Novels Under My Belt.

I Think That Most Of My Books Are Part Of Some Process Of Self-education, Often About The Places I Go To. Most Of All, They Are About The Peculiar Tension Between Institutional Loyalty And Loyalty To Oneself; The Mystery Of Patriotism, For A Brit Of My Age And Generation, Where It Runs, How It Should Be Defined, What It's Worth And What A Corrupting Force It Can Be When Misapplied. All That Stuff Is Just In Me And It Comes Out In The Characters. I Don't Mean To Preach, But I Know I Do, And I'm A Very Flawed Person. It's Quite Ridiculous.

When It's Going Well [writing] Goes Terribly Fast. It Isn't At All Surprising To Write A Chapter In A Day, Which For Me Is About Twenty-two Pages. When It's Going Badly, It Isn't Really Going Badly; It's Just The Beginning.

Unfortunately It Is The Weak Who Destroy The Strong.

Completing A Book, It's A Little Like Having A Baby.... There's A Feeling Of Relief And Satisfaction When You Get To The End. A Feeling That You Have Brought Your Family, Your Characters, Home. Then A Sort Of Post-natal Depression And Then, Very Quickly, The Horizon Of A New Book. The Consolation That Next Time I Will Do It Better.