It's probably true that everyone has a book in them, although it may not be a very good one.

You don't turn out as many books as I did then by sitting around, being cozy with the family.

What I like about writing is the sense of godlike power it gives you.

I'm not a good father and they're not children any more; the eldest is in his fifties. My relationship with their mothers broke down and, because of what the law was, they went with their mothers and were imbued with their mothers' morality in life and they were not my people any more.

I go on a hunting safari at least once a year to Botswana, which is fantastic because we have a huge area of wilderness entirely to ourselves. My island covers roughly 55 acres, which again I have to myself, with nearly half a kilometre of private beach with my own jetties and boats.

I have never had too much trouble for creative ideas to spring up in my mind.

All my characters have got a big slice of me in them. A big piece of me, because it's my dialogue and this is the way I think and talk.