But I do not have the reader in mind when I write. No true writer does that

I live in London and I am a British subject, although I do write in Spanish, of course

I don't much believe in the idea of characters. I write with words, that is all. Whether those words are put in the mouth of this or that character does not matter to me

I was never a true journalist, I was a movie critic.

So I do not consider myself a chronicler of my fatherland or even a chronicler of Havana

A good smoker, like a good lover, always takes his time with a cigar.

Dialogue in fiction is always written to be read in silence. The page is the limit. Dialogue on stage and on the screen is meant to be spoken. The voice is the limit.