I realized what I felt . . . happy. It was such a strange, unusual feeling—light, calm, as though I’d swallowed sunshine.
You can't have too much dog in a book.
I'd recently finished reading a management tome which seemed to be aimed at psychopaths with no common sense (quite a dangerous combination).
If you break things down to goodies and baddies, the baddies are always a bit more alluring in fiction, and that's true from a narrative point of view. But I wanted to write a novel about real life, and real life is a bit more nuanced than that.
I had been thinking about social awkwardness and about people you meet who are not bad people - there is nothing wrong with them, but they are just a little bit awkward, and it makes you feel uncomfortable, and it makes you want to bring the encounter to an end. I thought, 'Is there a reason for that? What has contributed to their demeanour?'
'Eleanor' was so much fun to write, because there's a brutal honesty about her. She's got no filters and no concept of social norms.
I've always found Glasgow to be a wonderful city - warm and funny and full of kindness.
I know some writers are meticulous planners, but I'm not one of them.
If you start a new career at 40, you've still got another 35 years to go.
I wanted to show platonic friendship between men and women, because I think it is underutilised in fiction.
