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When I write I find a quiet place.

I need complete silence when I write.

I don't listen to anything when I'm writing. I need total quiet, which is astounding, given that I spent years working for a newspaper and having to write features surrounded by ringing phones and people shouting.

I don't know about other writers, but for myself, to write I must be relatively quiet - it's very difficult to write with the telephone and the doorbell ringing and conversation going on; I'm not that good a writer to write through all that!

I can't imagine writing a novel without some sound. When you're facing a few hundred blank pages, silence can be cold.

I don't listen to music when I write. I need silence.

I write best late at night, when everyone in the house has gone to bed. There's something magical about that late night silence that appeals to me.

There is a lot of silence in me, and I feel that silence is often better than spoken words.