Writing Has To Support Itself.

Whatever Extra There Is In Me At Any Given Moment Isn't Fully Formed. I Am Hardly Aware Of It; It Awaits The Next Book. It Will - With Luck - Come To Me During The Actual Writing, And It Will Take Me By Surprise

I Wish My Prose To Be Transparent—i Don't Want The Reader To Stumble Over Me; I Want Him To Look Through What I'm Saying To What I'm Describing. I Don't Want Him Ever To Say, Oh, Goodness, How Nicely Written This Is. That Would Be A Failure.

As A Child I Knew Almost Nothing, Nothing Beyond What I Had Picked Up In My Grandmother's House. All Children, I Suppose, Come Into The World Like That, Not Knowing Who They Are.

Making A Book Is Such A Big Enterprise.

The Ancillary Aspect Of Every British City Now Is The Council Estate.