It's where I keep all my things. Get a lot of compliments on this. Plus it's not a purse, it's called a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one.
Alan GarnerI loathe crowds. I especially dont like cities. A city involves biomass. And biomass gets to me.
Alan GarnerMy background is deep and set in deep time, and in a narrow space, oral traditions going back a long, long time, which I inherited by osmosis.
Alan GarnerWhen you start, the world of publishing seems like a great cathedral citadel of talent, resisting attempts to let you inside. It isn't like that at all. It may be more difficult now, and take longer than when I started to write, but there's a great, empty warehouse out there looking for simple talent.
Alan GarnerMy attitude is that if anybody of any age wants to read a book, let them, but I do think that no child would want to read Boneland.
Alan GarnerIf you are going to write, nothing will stop you, and if you are not going to write, nothing will make you.
Alan GarnerI love research so much that I do an enormous amount; it helps put off the moment of starting to write the story.
Alan GarnerHitting the gym to release stress is not nearly as effective as hitting the people that cause the stress to begin with.
Alan GarnerShe wants to be flowers, but you make her owls. You must not complain, then, if she goes hunting.
Alan GarnerI'll buy metaphor, but simile's a cop-out used by scaredycats who won't commit to anything. Simile's for cowards.
Alan GarnerThe job of a storyteller is to speak the truth. But what we feel most deeply can’t be spoken in words alone. At this level, only images connect. And here, story becomes symbol; symbol is myth. And myth is truth.
Alan GarnerMy great-grandfather was a self-taught man, and his library was extraordinary. I read the lot.
Alan Garner