Writing is like everything else: the more you do it the better you get. Don't try to perfect as you go along, just get to the end of the damn thing. Accept imperfections. Get it finished and then you can go back. If you try to polish every sentence there's a chance you'll never get past the first chapter.
Iain BanksEven in my side of the world, I've been in publishing for what, 25 or 26 years, and it's gone from being a gentlemen's club to being a few big players, and it's very corporatised.
Iain BanksYou get so caught up in what you're writing - action sequences tend to do that more than anything else because you're living it, and feeling for your characters.
Iain BanksSmell is a very animal thing, almost reptilian, where the more cerebral things like reading less so.
Iain Banks