Traveling is one of few zones of experience where you are not directly plugged into the world around you. You're not part of the society you're passing through.

I'm not designed to interact with society.

Writing is not like acting, where you can pull these little stunts that create a particular effect. Words are all it is about, and the way you use words has to be individual and particular to you.

It's expected of novels that they should explain the world and create the illusion that things are ultimately logical and coherent. But that's not what I see around me. Often, events remain mysterious and unresolved, and our emotions reach no catharsis.

I try to get going early, on the assumption that the way you begin your day is the way you continue. But certain books only want to be written at night, so there's no hard rule where work is concerned.

I long for a South African society that's free of ideological forces - no society can ever really be free of ideological forces - but I wish it was free of power.