I think of writing as a sculptural medium. You are not building things. You are removing things, chipping away at language to reveal a living form.

It could be argued that every age gets the comfort savagery writer it deserves.

The cynics are correct the sense of freewill is only that feeling which we have when we take the necessitated option that most appeals to us.

Of course, with well-masticated food playing the role of social glue, it's absolutely essential that everyone clear their plate. Sod the starving kiddies in Africa - it's the overfed ones here we need to worry about.

The great liberty of the fictional writer is to let the imagination out of the traces and see it gallop off over the horizon.

A party full of 'likeable' people doesn't bear contemplating.

Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.