It's Like Standing On The Edge Of

I Have Never Begun A Novel Which Wasn't Going To Stretch Me Further Than I Had Ever Stretched Before.

All Our Heroes, All Our Great Stories Are About Failure.

What I Find Really Attractive Is Something That's Going To Be A Little Dangerous. Something That Might Get Me Into Trouble; You Know, You Turn Up In London And You've Just Rewritten Dickens. And, Of Course, Then You Think, 'what Have I Done?

So In The First Draft, I'm Inventing People And Place With A Broad Schematic Idea Of What's Going To Happen. In The Process, Of Course, I Discover All Sorts Of Bigger And More Substantial Things.

I Don't Separate My Books Into Historical Novels And The Rest. To Me, They're All Made-up Worlds, And Both Kinds Are Borne Out Of Curiosity, Some Investigation Into The Past.