Quote

I'm drawn particularly to stories that evolve out of the character of the protagonist.

I have always loved story - I escaped within it as a child, I read every day, I love figuring out the complex layers of an author's work.

I love novels where not much 'happens' but where the interest is in the ideas and analyses of characters.

I love stories. I just enjoy telling stories and watching what these characters do - although writing continues to be just as hard as it always was.

I have always been drawn to coming-of-age stories and books and movies featuring compelling young characters.

Novels usually evolve out of 'character.' Characters generate stories, and the shape of a novel is entirely imagined but should have an aesthetic coherence.

I believe that every writer evolves with every successive novel. I view myself as work-in-progress.

There's a wealth of literature out there which, hopefully, will be, you know, exploded in the future, and I personally find it very rewarding to be involved with classic storytelling, and sort of legendary characters.

Characters develop as the book progresses, but any that start to bore me end up in the wastepaper basket. In real life, we may have to put up with tedious people, but not in novels.

I love character and voice, and my favourite books have been the ones in which I've become completely absorbed.