I think writers have to be proactive: they've got to use new technology and social media. Yes, it's hard to get noticed by traditional publishers, but there's a great deal of opportunity out there if you've got the right story.
Ian RankinI used to think that: whenever I heard that someone had taken 10 years to write a novel, I'd think it must be a big, serious book. Now I think, 'No - it took you one year to write, and nine years to sit around eating Kit Kats.
Ian RankinAt all times, think like a writer, and keep those antennae twitching - that way, you pick up new ideas.
Ian RankinYou wouldn't think you could kill an ocean, would you? But we'll do it one day. That's how negligent we are.
Ian RankinI've always written. At the age of six or seven, I would get sheets of A4 paper and fold them in half, cut the edges to make a little eight-page booklet, break it up into squares and put in little stick men with little speech bubbles, and I'd have a spy story, a space story and a football story.
Ian Rankin