In A Way, The Characters Often Do

Of Course There Are Big Differences In Length And Character And Vocabulary, But Each Level Has Its Particular Pleasures When It Comes To The Words One Can Use And The Way One Uses Them.

At The Same Time, I Think Books Create A Sort Of Network In The Reader's Mind, With One Book Reinforcing Another. Some Books Form Relationships. Other Books Stand In Opposition. No Two Writers Or Readers Have The Same Pattern Of Interaction.

My Theory Is That I Decided To Be A Writer When I Was About Seven, But Of Course It Is Not As Simple As That. Like Most Writers, I Had To Work At Other Things To Earn A Living And Wrote Mainly In The Evenings, Often Very Late At Night, For Many Years.

I Was Able To Work Out All Sorts Of Attitudes To Style And Event And Character, All Of Which Affected The Way I Came To Think About My Own Writing. I Believe That All Good Writers Are Original.

If A Job's Worth Doing, It's Worth Doing Twice.