The rebellion of art is a daily rebellion against the state of living death routinely called real life.

London is a small place, and it is very incestuous. People know where you live. Everybody is sort of on top of each other.

I write about sex because often it feels like the most important thing in the world.

To be ill adjusted to a deranged world is not a breakdown.

A character has a distinctive voice - you should be able to hear them in your head and conduct a conversation with them while you're out walking. If the answers surprise you, you know it's the character speaking and not you.

Some people are happy when they are at the sea; I'm happy when I'm standing in front of a shelf of books. It feels like the known place and also the beginning of a new adventure. It has that simultaneous paradoxical effect of making me feel absolutely calm and very excited.

True stories are the ones that lie open at the border, allowing a crossing, a further frontier. The final frontier is just science fiction--don't believe it. Like the universe, there is no end.