Three of my novels and a good number of my short stories are told from the point of view of men. I was brought up in a house of women.

If you have to read to cheer yourself up, read biographies of writers who went insane.

Anyone 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.'

I did think of becoming a priest quite late on, when other boys were thinking of knocking over fences and going out with girls. I would have made a very good bishop: nice housekeeper, nice clothes - god, the clothes.

It is important to find a publisher and equally important not to be noticed until your third or fourth book.

As I settled down to sleep in that new bed in the dark city, I saw that it was too late now, too late for everything. I would not be given a second chance. In the hours when I woke, I have to tell you that this struck me almost with relief.

All writing is a form of manipulation, of course, but you realize that a plain sentence can actually do so much.