No matter how many awards you've won or how many sales you've got, come the next book it's still a blank sheet of paper and you're still panicking like hell that you've got nothing new to say.

You wouldn't think you could kill an ocean, would you? But we'll do it one day. That's how negligent we are.

[About a tiresome colleague]: He could bore for Scotland.

I'm often asked how I write books, but I don't think my approach is suitable for everyone. If I walked into a creative writing class, all I could say to them was 'I tend to make it up as I go along.' I'm not sure that's brilliant advice.

A good album should be more than the sum of its parts.

It seemed to him a very Edinburgh thing. Welcoming, but not very.

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.