It was weird – writing is a stupid thing to do. I come up here in the morning to a pleasant room in the roof of my house and imagine I’m a black South American football superstar; then I have to imagine I’m a female pop celebrity who’s pregnant. It’s a completely mad way to spend your time. Mal Peet Read Quote
I can ask for a £25,000 advance, but then you spend a year writing the book, and £25,000 is a loan against sales, and you can easily spend five years earning out. So that’s £25,000 for six years. Mal Peet Read Quote
Fundamentalism – of any variety – is a form of illiteracy, in that it asserts that it is necessary to read only one book. Mal Peet Read Quote
I usually have about four books on the go – a bedside book, a lavatory book, a downstairs book, and the book in my study that I read sneakily while I should be writing. Short stories for the lavatory, obviously. Mal Peet Read Quote
If I were to try to describe the way in which I write, the only word I would use without qualification is ‘slowly.’ Mal Peet Read Quote
Remember that a good football novel has to have the same ingredients as any other good novel: drama, convincing and interesting characters, a strong story-line, and some kind of magic in the writing. Mal Peet Read Quote
