I am writing a book about the Crusades so dull that I can scarcely write it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm a novelist. I'm not a crusader, and I'm not an editorial writer. And I'm not writing fiction to convince anybody of anything.
Poul Anderson's 'The High Crusade' may have had a greater impact on my development as a writer than any other book I ever read.
My instinct is to write under the cloak of an opaque historical setting.
During the crusades all were religious mad, and now all are mad for want of it.
If you are an Arabic-speaking, Greek-Orthodox going to a French school it makes you deeply sceptical if you have to listen to three different accounts of the Crusades - one from the Muslim side, one from the Greek side and one from the Catholic side.
If you're going to write about war, which my books are about, wars are nasty things. I think it's sort of a cheap, easy way out to write a war story in which no one ultimately dies.
I can't write a book like 'Lamb' or 'Fool' every year. It just takes too much research and craft.
On the whole, I don't like reading long books. I'm not a fan of 'Ulysses.' And I haven't quite finished 'War and Peace.'
I'm not embarrassed about the novels I wrote when I was younger, but I couldn't write them today because of my religion.
I'm not on any crusade.