'Writers don't need to be prisoners, or exiles, or even cursed by elements of their own society to feel an outsider. '

Writers don't need to be prisoners, or exiles, or even cursed by elements of their own society to feel an outsider. The biographies of writers are littered with references to feelings of distance.

The post Caroline Brothers appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Shy as a child, books became my shield from life, as well as an escape, and I read my way through anything I could find.'

Shy as a child, books became my shield from life, as well as an escape, and I read my way through anything I could find. My eyes were never far away from the pages of a book.

The post Leigh Russell appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I try to say what needs saying, today, as well as I possibly can say it — however bad it feels — and my future self will be able to rip this up.'

I try to say what needs saying, today, as well as I possibly can say it — however bad it feels — and my future self will be able to rip this up, and edit it, and it does.

The post Robert Hudson appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I've written two novels about the Great War and both of them were inspired by one of the most haunting images from that conflict.'

I've written two novels about the Great War and both of them were inspired by one of the most haunting images from that conflict; a grainy image of soldiers from a Manchester battalion.

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

'The written word is not like a conversation. There is a time gap between the stimulus and the response.'

The written word is not like a conversation. There is a time gap between the stimulus and the response. I need that time, to consider what I think, and compose what I say. So I write and rewrite.

The post Kerry Young appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'The days of the monocultured genre writer is long gone. Writers carry a choir of voices in their heads.'

The days of the monocultured genre writer is long gone, if it ever really existed. Writers carry a gloriously untuned choir of voices in their heads.

The post Mary Colson appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'The worst thing about that first rejection wasn't that I'd been turned down by Oxford, it was that it made me reject my own impulse to write. '

The worst thing about that first rejection wasn't that I'd been turned down by Oxford, it was that it made me reject my own impulse to write. I had, in effect, rejected myself.

The post Bethan Roberts appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Don't, on replacing the recycling bin, notice the complete stories of Flannery O'Connor resting on the kitchen table, and think you'll just take a look.'

Don't, on replacing the recycling bin, notice the complete short stories of Flannery O'Connor resting on the kitchen table, and think you'll just take a look at the first one, to get a clearer sense of her writing.

The post Elanor Dymott appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I decided enough was enough. I was going to write this novel in the right order, starting at the beginning.'

I decided enough was enough. I was going to write this novel in the right order, starting at the beginning, and progressing in a masterly authorial manner, to the very end; I would tame my process.

The post Catherine O’Flynn appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I don't know what the marketing departments of publishers expect when they send out the press release for a new book by Andrew Martin.'

I don't know what the marketing departments of publishers expect when they send out the press release for a new book by Andrew Martin; some kind of response, but not a great deal.

The post Andrew Martin appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.