Change occurs slowly. Very often a legal change might take place but the cultural shift required to really accept its spirit lingers in the wings for decades.

The law don't like jazz clubs. No one wants anything to do with that kind of trouble.

A word out of place or an interesting choice of vocabulary can spawn a whole character.

A book is a story, even if it's non-fiction, and once I've read it, I have the story with me inside my head always.

Historical fiction of course is particularly research-heavy. The details of everyday life are there to trip you up. Things that we take for granted, indeed, hardly think about, can lead to tremendous mistakes.

Everyone assumes writers spend their time lounging around, writing and occasionally striking a pose whilst having a think.

Something I notice speaking to writers from south of Hadrians Wall is that the culture is different. At base, I think Scotland values its creative industries differently from England.