Poets go through a very tough apprenticeship in the use of words.

In a world without air all you breathe is adventure!

A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was a great moment to see my first poems published. It felt like entering a tradition.

However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with a historical setting and a novel with a contemporary setting, as far as I'm concerned.

A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into.

The language has got to be fully alive - I can't bear dull, flaccid writing myself and I don't see why any reader should put up with it.