Writing is not my problem, it is my solution.

I'm quite interested in the absolute roots of narrative, why we tell stories at all: where the monsters come from.

And what amazes me as I hit the motorway is not the fact that everyone loses someone, but that everyone loves someone. It seems like such a massive waste of energy -- and we all do it, all the people beetling along between the white lines, merging, converging, overtaking. We each love someone, even though they will die. And we keep loving them, even when they are not there to love any more. And there is no logic or use to any of this, that I can see.

I never wanted to be mainstream as a writer, but look at what's happened.

I find being Irish quite a wearing thing. It takes so much work because it is a social construction. People think you are going to be this, this, and this.

There are men who would do anything, asleep, and I'm not sure what stops them when they wake. I do not know how they draw the line.

I love the characters not knowing everything and the reader knowing more than them. There's more mischief in that and more room for seriousness, too.