'I once read that, in France, memoir is classified alongside fiction, rather than non-fiction. Perhaps there is a logic to that.'

I once read that, in France, memoir is classified alongside fiction, rather than non-fiction. Perhaps there is a logic to that. I like to believe that my own memory is the 'true' version of what happened, but we all create our own truths.

The post Tim Ecott appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Now I write books and TV for teenagers, and for adults. Some days I'll work on the new novel in the morning, an episode of TV in the afternoon. '

Now I write books and TV for teenagers, and for adults. Some days I'll work on the new novel in the morning, and on an episode of TV in the afternoon. Some weeks it'll be all about a TV deadline.

The post Mark Illis appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Men wrote the books that mattered. Women wrote stories in magazines. But as a child, the books I read were almost exclusively written by women. '

Men wrote the books that mattered. Women wrote stories in magazines. But as a child, the books I read were almost exclusively written by women. They were the books that changed my life.

The post Dyan Sheldon appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Those girls took their lives in their hands every time they set foot outside the front door. But Chalet Girls met disaster head on. '

Those girls took their lives in their hands every time they set foot outside the front door. But Chalet Girls met disaster head on. They jolly well rolled their sleeves up, and got on with it; rockfalls, plunges through the ice... even scheming Nazis.

The post Lucy Flannery appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'We learn from the process of creating, but rejection can limit our development if nothing gets made. We might start to doubt our ability.'

We learn from the process of creating, but rejection can limit our development if nothing gets made. We might start to doubt our ability as a writer. We might think, 'I'm completely rubbish; I'm never going to get another commission again'.

The post Rhiannon Tise appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'These chaps who are being murdered as prisoners of war, or burned to death in their tanks, or shot as they hang from parachutes, are my Dad's generation. '

These chaps who are being murdered as prisoners of war, or burned to death in their tanks, or shot as they hang from parachutes, are my Dad's generation. Lucky for me, he missed the war by a few weeks.

The post Paul Dowswell appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Where do the ideas come from? It seems you haven't noticed. I only ever had one good idea, and I keep reworking it.'

Where do the ideas come from? It seems you haven't noticed. I only ever had one good idea, and I keep reworking it over and over, just changing names and places for each new novel. Touch wood no one else has noticed this either.

The post Chris Westwood appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'They lived in the present tense, without any sense of their future fates, just as we do. Sunlight shone on them, as it does on us.'

They lived in the present tense, without any sense of their future fates, just as we do. Sunlight shone on them, as it does on us. The touch of a hand, or the taste of honey, was the same.

The post Lucy Moore appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Whoever defined genres, it can't have been a writer. You can't fit creativity into a straightjacket and tell your imagination to conform.'

Whoever defined genres, it can't have been a writer. You can't fit creativity into a straightjacket and tell your imagination to conform to a marketing strategy —because that's what genre is.

The post Kathleen Jones appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'That novel you spend eighteen months redrafting in your mid-twenties? You can't even remember what you did with the manuscript.'

You know that novel you spend eighteen months drafting and redrafting in your mid-twenties? There'll come a time when you can't even remember what you did with the manuscript.

The post Ann Morgan appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.