Reginald Hill (b. April 3rd): “You’re never alone with a novel. “

3 Apr

Reginald Hill, born 3 April 1936 and died 12 January 2012, was an English crime writer, and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. He is best known for his crime novels about Dalziel and Pascoe, which were adapted for BBC television.

Quotes on writing:

You are never alone with a novel. The characters become as real to me as real people.
Writing is like painting: a highlight here, a touch of colour there, can suggest more than an album of photographs can show.
If you’ve got something to say or a good story to tell then the greatest problem is writing to the end of it. If you can do that, then even if it’s not that good you have got something to work at.
When I get up in the morning, I ask my wife whether I should write a Booker prize-winning novel, or another best-selling crime book. We always come down on the side of the crime book.
I had a kid brother who was five years younger than me and when he was left in my tender care, I would entertain him by making up stories. They were stories full of sudden death, blood, violence and narrow escapes.
The only bit of advice I would give is: when you finish that first manuscript and send it off to a publisher, start your second immediately. It will be infinitely better and you will have it finished by the time you get a reply about the first.
I’ve got ideas scattered around; I write them in my notebook and keep them on my computer. Even as I am coming to the end of one book, ideas for the next are rolling around in my mind. I’ll pick up a few threads that I’ve sown before and see where they lead.