...sentences swallowed and sung back and swallowed all over again. She was made entirely out of words.

The great thing about a short story is that it doesn't have to trawl through someone's whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side.

I'm really aware that in fiction, women are pretty much equal. There's a lot of very successful women novelists. Not so much [for women writers working] in film.

If you have written something that the film people want, like a book, it does give you a way in.

There may be certain genres that men dominate, but fiction not so much. The question of prizes is tricky because there are so many prizes.

I read a lot of social history. If I'm in an art gallery and a picture intrigues me, I immediately write down the title and I google it. I do a lot of googling and looking out for good stories. I can almost smell them sometimes.

I really like to keep my palette small but to be very intense, very myopic.