A Good Album Should Be More Than

The Most Difficult Part Of Any Crime Novel Is The Plotting. It All Begins Simply Enough, But Soon You're Dealing With A Multitude Of Linked Characters, Strands, Themes And Red Herrings - And You Need To Try To Control These Unruly Elements And Weave Them Into A Pattern.

I Started Writing Novels While An Undergraduate Student, In An Attempt To Make Sense Of The City Of Edinburgh, Using A Detective As My Protagonist. Each Book Hopefully Adds Another Piece To The Jigsaw That Is Modern Scotland, Asking Questions About The Nation's Politics, Economy, Psyche And History ... And Perhaps Pointing Towards Its Possible Future.

From This Height The Sleeping City Seems Like A Child's Construction, A Model Which Has Refused To Be Constrained By Imagination. The Volcanic Plug Might Be Black Plasticine, The Castle Balanced Solidly Atop It A Skewed Rendition Of Crenellated Building Bricks. The Orange Street Lamps Are Crumpled Toffee-wrappers Glued To Lollipop Sticks.

His Eyes Beheld Beauty Not In Reality But In The Printed Word. Standing In The Waiting-room, He Realized That In His Life He Had Accepted Secondary Experience -- The Experience Of Reading Someone Else's Thoughts -- Over Real Life.

You Need A Great Idea, But Then You've Got To Carry It Through. If You Get It Right, You're Going To Be A Critical Success. But Not Everyone Who Works Hard Gets It Right, Or Has The Success They Deserve: There's An Element Of Luck.