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When I write, I get glimpses into future novels.

Novels for me are how I find out what's going on in my own head. And so that's a really useful and indeed critical thing to do when you do as many of these other things as I do.

Occasionally, I just need to escape from my work or be reminded of the comparative bliss of my own life, so I pick up a novel.

I write the kinds of novels I like to read, where the setting is rendered with love and care.

I'm always determined that as a novelist I'm going to go out there and research my characters very thoroughly before I start writing.

When I start getting close to the end of a novel, something registers in the back of my mind for the next novel, so that I usually don't write, or take notes. And I certainly don't begin. I just allow things to percolate for a while.

I'm a novelist, that's how I make my livelihood, and I concentrate on the novels.

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

Usually I decide on what it is I'm writing next by the books I'm reading.

With a novel, there is no hurrying it. You're constantly walking into the unknown.