Writing tends to be very deliberate. A novelist could probably run a military campaign with some success. They could certainly run a country.
Colm ToibinAnyone who works in the arts knows, if you're writing a novel or a play or anything, you have to be ready for someone to say, 'Your time is up.'
Colm ToibinI live in words. I like looking at things, but I don't have a strong visual imagination.
Colm ToibinSuffering is too strong a word, but writing is serious work. I pull the stuff up from me - it's not as if it's a pleasure.
Colm ToibinThe problem is once you've written the opening paragraph and worked out how the rest of the story will go in your head, there's nothing in it for you. I write in longhand using disposable fountain pens on the right-hand side of the notebook for the first draft, then I rewrite some of the sentences and paragraphs on the left-hand side.
Colm Toibin