'I used to read haphazardly and uncritically, from French translations to war memoirs to fiction; now inevitably I read a lot of crime because that is what I write.'

My reading habits have changed since I became a writer myself. I used to read haphazardly and uncritically, from French translations to war memoirs to fiction; now inevitably I read a lot of crime because that is what I write.

'Writing, as Hemingway reminds us, is a craft in which we are all apprentices and no one becomes a master. I have an acute awareness of my need to work every day.'

Writing, as Hemingway reminds us, is a craft in which we are all apprentices and no one becomes a master. I have an acute awareness of my need to work every day; my duty to rewrite endlessly.

'The clear and often poignant honesty that travellers will share with total strangers whom they know they will never see again can be searingly beautiful.'

The clear and often poignant honesty that travellers will share with total strangers whom they know they will never see again can be searingly beautiful, and can help create new story ideas.

'I didn't know exactly what it meant in the sense of its paraphrasable content, but its potency was unignorable. Imagine if one could write like this!'

Enchanted by the seductive music of this poem, its strangeness but also its powerful sense of reality; I didn't know exactly what it meant in the sense of its paraphrasable content, but its potency was unignorable. Imagine if one could write like this!

'You've said exactly what you wanted to say, and said it well, and the reader or viewer will be moved, impressed, enlightened, amused.'

You know you've said exactly what you wanted to say, and said it well, and the reader or viewer will be moved, impressed, enlightened, amused; whatever reaction it is that you want them to have.

'Even trailblazing Simone de Beauvoir, who scorned conventional marriage, was not immune from jealousy, nor from retaliation in print. '

Even trailblazing Simone de Beauvoir, who scorned conventional marriage, was not immune from jealousy, nor from retaliation in print.

'I came to understand that bad words were only the beginning of the writing process. Brilliance lay not in writing perfectly first time round but in having the patience and skill to rework. '

As a sub-editor spending my days honing other people's articles, I came to understand that bad words were only the beginning of the writing process. Brilliance lay not in writing perfectly first time round but in having the patience and skill to rework.

'I was in the middle of a fruitless search for a black northern monologue to take back to drama school, and for once I had time to spare before my train arrived. '

I was in the middle of a fruitless search for a black northern monologue to take back to drama school, and for once I had time to spare before my train arrived. My mind started wandering and I took out my rap pen and pad and started to write.

'The inspiration here has involved a movement from poetry to prose. This is something that pleases me immensely; one genre fertilising another.'

The inspiration here has involved a movement from poetry to prose. This is something that pleases me immensely; one genre fertilising another.

'There's no end, no tedium, in a lifelong love affair with language, just small endings when you reach the conclusion of another piece of work.'

There's no end, no tedium, in a lifelong love affair with language, just small endings when you reach the conclusion of another piece of work.