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Everyone seems agreed that writing about sex is perilous, partly because it threatens to swamp highly individualised characters in a generic, featureless activity (much like coffee-cup dialogue, during which everyone sounds the same), and partly because it feels... tacky.

There are some novelists who can get away with writing about sex - Philip Roth, Ian McEwan - but they are rare.

I write about the men you want to read about but don't necessarily want to be married to.

I usually don't read things written about me and I certainly don't read things if they are inappropriate.

I don't find it easy to think of good stuff to write about.

You can't sit down and decide what you want to write about.

I don't believe for one moment you can write well what you wouldn't read for pleasure.

I like to write about women, not so much about the way they relate to men, but about the way they relate to each other. And I don't think anyone's really doing it.