Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but serve as reminders.

I write scripts to serve as skeletons awaiting the flesh and sinew of images.

I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head.

Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are. I love to eavesdrop!

Sometimes, a novel is like a train: the first chapter is a comfortable seat in an attractive carriage, and the narrative speeds up. But there are other sorts of trains, and other sorts of novels. They rush by in the dark; passengers framed in the lighted windows are smiling and enjoying themselves.

'The Good Soldier' is an odd and maybe even unique book. That it is a masterpiece, almost a perfect novel, comes as a repeated surprise even to readers who have read it before.