'I was playing. I take play very seriously. I was wrapping prose around poems, then freeing the poems.'

I was playing. I take play very seriously. I was wrapping prose around poems, then freeing the poems. Running prose backwards and putting in line breaks.

The post Tania Hershman appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Different stories feel like they require different storytelling registers and so when I am working out whatever story I want to tell next, the medium tends to choose itself.'

Different stories feel like they require different storytelling registers and so when I am working out whatever story I want to tell next, the medium tends to choose itself, with, of course, the proviso that I reserve the right to switch.

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

'It's quite normal for me to be having a conversation, or bathing my three year old daughter, only to be hit with an idea. '

It's quite normal for me to be having a conversation, or bathing my three year old daughter, only to be hit with an idea. So I've got used to carrying my phone and my notebook with me, and I usually have my computer.

The post Courttia Newland appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'However tempting the urge to retrace and re-examine, suppress that urge and track onward to the end.'

You need the arc, the whole, the final picture, before the work of refashioning begins. However tempting the urge to retrace and re-examine, suppress that urge and track onward to the end.

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

'I've been taught from childhood that integrity is everything, and paying somebody to write a review would be a mortal sin. '

I've been taught from childhood that integrity is everything, and paying somebody to write a review of a book they hadn't read would be a mortal sin. We don't show off in Yorkshire.

The post Linda Hoy appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Andrei Platonov has an unquenchable belief that ordinary people, however damaged get their act together.'

This is most precious of all to me; Andrei Platonov has an unquenchable belief that ordinary people, however damaged, can, and will, given time, get their act together.

The post Fraser Grace appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Outsiders masquerading as insiders. That's how I feel when I'm writing a book. Only pretending to inhabit the everyday world.'

Outsiders masquerading as insiders. That's how I feel when I'm writing a book. Only pretending to inhabit the everyday world.

The post Sue Roe appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I am definitely not one of those people who can get up before everyone else and work for three hours.'

I am definitely not one of those people who can get up before everyone else and work for three hours. Sometimes insomnia forces me up at night, but I never find the urge to write.

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

'Watching a film or TV programme, no matter how good it may be, is a passive activity... Reading is active.'

Watching a film or TV programme, no matter how good it may be, is a passive activity. A spectator sport. The audience has no part in it's making. Everything is there... Reading is active.

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

'I'm also very keen on reading work in translation, as the translator often has to work hard to render the writer's mother tongue into English.'

I'm also very keen on reading work in translation, as the translator often has to work hard to render the writer's mother tongue into English, with creative results.

The post Judith Allnatt appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.