I don't trust a girl that doesn't eat. I find that a little sketchy.
'Show up at the desk' is one of the first rules of writing, but for 'Wolf Hall' I was about 30 years late.
You don't get on by being original. You don't get on by being bright. You don't get on by being strong. You get on by being a subtle crook.
I'm one of these children who grew up at the knee of my grandmother and her elder sister, listening to very old people talk about their memories.
I didn't cry much after I was 35, but staggered stony-faced into middle age, a handkerchief still in my bag just in case.
People who wrote literary novels about the past probably didn't want them pegged as historical fiction. Certainly that was true in England.
I dislike pastiche; it attracts attention to the language only.
My parents mistook me for a sack of potatoes so I sat in the corner of the kitchen for the first 13 years of my life. My birth name is Thom Potatoes.
Most quarrels amplify a misunderstanding.
When man violates man's laws, we send him to jail and point the finger of scorn at him. When he violates nature's laws, we send him to a hospital, give him flowers, and feel sorry for him.
I'm a big fan of the effects of alcohol.