When I'm writing a book, generally I start with the mood and setting, along with a couple of specific imagesยthings that have come into my head, totally abstracted from any narrative, that I've fixated on. After that, I construct a world, or an area, into which that general setting, that atmosphere, and the specific images I've focused on can fit.
China MievilleBooks are always obviously having conversations with other books, and some times they're amiable and sometimes not.
China MievilleArt is something you choose to make... it's a bringing together of... of everything around you into something that makes you more human, more khepri, whatever. More of a person.
China MievilleNo one ever got into science fiction for the sex or prestige. They got into it because they love it.
China Mieville