There's that horrible-beautiful moment, that bitter-sweet impasse where you know that somebody is bullshitting you but they're doing it with such panache and conviction...no, it's because they say exactly what you want to hear, at that point in time.

I enjoy the freedom of the blank page.

When I'm not writing, I read loads of fiction, but I've been writing quite constantly lately so I've been reading a lot of nonfiction - philosophy, religion, science, history, social or cultural studies.

Are you asking me or telling me?

There's no one way of telling a story or looking at reality, so I think any device is up for grabs as long as it fits in with the tone.

People love talking about their jobs. Take them out, buy them lunch or take them for a beer and they'll talk about their job, provided they know that you're going to respect their anonymity.

In some ways, you can say that at any time in any writer's career: 'He might have run out of ideas.'