Proust is a hero of mine. I read 'A la recherche' in one go, and I'm a very slow reader. It had an astonishing impact, reading it on my own and being my main company. I think Proust is the most intelligent person to ever have written a novel.

The thing about the 'Melrose' novels is that I have to feel they're impossible when I set out.

I'm really not responsible for what mental operation people have when they're reading my books other than the ones which are created by literary effects.

I see the author as the person who has written; the writer, the one involved in the process of writing. And they're not necessarily friends. The writer is the one I want to reinforce; the author would just feed on the reviews - so I'm in favour of starving him.

It seems people spend the majority of their lives believing they're dying, with the only consolation being that at one point they get to be right.

Everything was usual. That was depression: being stuck, clinging to an out-of-date version of oneself.

I'm not trying to uncover the facts of my life but to discover the dramatic truth of the situations I was in.