'Once you've subsumed your own tone to the great and the good, it's curtains for plot development and time to put the kettle on.'

That's how it is with me; once you've subsumed your own tone to the great and the good, it's curtains for plot development and time to put the kettle on.

'For me one of the most important pieces of writing advice is this: read. Read everything.'

I made a failed attempt to become a scientist but realised fairly quickly that writing was what I was suited to, and for me one of the most important pieces of writing advice is this: read. Read everything.

' I imagine The Rolling Stones worrying about disturbing the neighbours or Jackson Pollock fretting about spilling paint on his studio floor.'

At such times I imagine The Rolling Stones worrying about disturbing the neighbours or Jackson Pollock fretting about spilling paint on his studio floor.

'As I grew I spent so many hours reading in bed that my mother took me to the family doctor worrying that I was anaemic.'

As I grew I spent so many hours reading in bed that my mother took me to the family doctor worrying that I was anaemic; too weak and bloodless to go out and play with other kids.

'Becoming a mother meant that my physical space as well as my mental space went through a lot of changes; the corner of the room where I used to write was no longer available.'

Becoming a mother meant that my physical space as well as my mental space went through a lot of changes; the corner of the room where I used to write was no longer available, after a couple of years the whole flat where I used to write was no longer big enough.

'Part-philosophy, part-erotica, part-poetic stream of consciousness, The Lover translates the strangeness of Duras' world, of being in it, onto the page.'

Part-philosophy, part-erotica, part-poetic stream of consciousness, The Lover translates the strangeness of Duras' world, of being in it, onto the page with perfect pitch.

'Maybe you're just lost in confusion like when you got that first ever commission to write a book review for the Observer and you were so consumed with delight that you actually kissed the editor on the cheek.'

Maybe you're just lost in confusion like when you got that first ever commission to write a book review for the Observer and you were so consumed with delight that you actually kissed the editor on the cheek.

'This is reading as a meander and a different kind of immersion in a subject than the reading I do when I'm working on poems with a specific theme. '

This is reading as a meander and a different kind of immersion in a subject than the reading I do when I'm working on poems with a specific theme. I tend to read novels to relax or to be lost in a narrative.

'I identified with these hobos. I lived in digs with my parents in one room. They were in a small bed and I was on a horsehair sofa. '

I identified with these hobos. I lived in digs with my parents in one room. They were in a small bed and I was on a horsehair sofa. Several other men of different nationalities shared two other small rooms.

Vox: Short audio from the RLF

That first phrase or line is like a magnet drawing other words to it and they begin to gather, sometimes quickly, sometimes over years, but again have to be scribbled down before I forget them.