work and thinks he could have done just a little bit better, or if they don’t then they should because that’s how we improve – by constantly striving for perfection. Do you write for a particular audience or for yourself? Pretty much for myself. I write the kinds of books that I think I would enjoy as a reader. Having said that, it’s hard to be objective about your own work. What I strive for is clarity and a kind of… smoothness of style, I guess you’d call it. I want the reader to forget that they’re actually undergoing the physical process of reading a book and just get caught up in the flow of the story and the interactions between characters. What do you like to do when you’re not writing? The kinds of things that most other people do, I guess. I like spending time with my family and friends; I read books; I go to movies and watch TV; I fart around on Facebook and Twitter. To be honest, most of my best friends are writers, and most of my interests are intertwined with what I do for a living, so even when I’m having fun I’m often doing things that are associated with ‘work’. But that’s okay, because I love my work.
oh, I knew I shouldn’t have started this, because I’m bound to leave out someone vital and they’ll get offended. But what I was going to say is we’ll often get together for weekends, either in one another’s houses, or we’ll just hire a cottage in the country and descend on it with masses of food and drink, and we’ll talk ad nauseum about books and films and writing and whatever takes our fancy really. So I love all that. As for the process of writing itself, I love that zing of inspiration when you know you’ve come up with a good idea; I love those rare occasions when a piece of work is flowing well and you’re ahead of schedule; I love that problemsolving moment when things click into place and you suddenly realise that those insurmountable plot discrepancies are not insurmountable, after all. As for what I don’t like, I hate that feeling you get when you’ve been commissioned to come up with something specific - an idea for a zombie story, say and you can’t think of a damn thing that seems new and original, and you get to the point where you sincerely believe you’ll never have a single original thought ever again. I hate the slog and grind when it’s not going well and you just want to stop, but you know you can’t because you’ve got a schedule to stick to. I hate the interminable waiting for news publishing wheels can sometimes turn incredibly slowly. Oh, and I hate proofreading. It’s pernickety, mind-numbing work, but you have to stay concentrated because there’s nothing worse for a writer than a bad typo at a vital moment. Do you get writer’s block? I get blocked for ideas sometimes, and I have days when I just can’t seem to express myself on the page, but those are usually just temporary blips. I’ve never had it for any length of time.
What parts of being a writer do you like best? And least? I love meeting fans and hanging out with other writers. I love doing conventions and literary festivals and bookshop events and signings. I’ve got a real knot of great writer friends, among whom are people like Tim Lebbon, Nick Royle, Sarah Pinborough, Gary McMahon, Steve Volk, Rob Shearman, Conrad Williams, Pete and Nicky Crowther, Mike Marshall Smith, Rio Youers and…
If you could meet anyone, fictional or real, dead or alive, who would it be? Hmm. If we’re talking about real people, the temptation would be to choose someone who has a kind of semi-legendary historical status, possibly someone to whom there is some doubt and mystery attached, like Shakespeare for instance. Purely to satisfy my curiosity, I guess it would be interesting to meet him, just to see what he was like as a bloke, and also to find out once and for all whether he did actually write all the plays that have been ascribed to him, and also whether there were any others that we don’t know about that have become lost over the years. It would also be cool to sit in on one of M.R. James’ famous Christmas ghost story sessions or to find out whether Poe or Lovecraft were as mentally screwed up as some reports claim they were. If