I'm not very interested in myself. I do have a deep moral belief that you should always look out at other things and not be self-centred.

Human beings love stories because they safely show us beginnings, middles and ends.

Outside our small safe place flies mystery.

On buses and trains, I always think about the inexhaustible variety of human genes. We see types, and occasionally twins, but never doubles. All faces are unique, and this is exhilarating, despite the increasingly plastic similarity of TV stars and actors.

Good writing is always new.

I was no good at being a child.

I hated being a novelist when I was 20 - I had nothing to write about.