Why do the police need to know where I am? In the hands of a benevolent government, they could be looking after your interests, but what if the next government isn’t so benevolent? Val McDermid Read Quote
Walking by water frees your creativity. I don’t know how it works – there’s something about it that’s liberating. Val McDermid Read Quote
I don’t think many of us launched ourselves into the world of writing books fully formed. Val McDermid Read Quote
If you don’t make the best-seller list, if you don’t get shortlisted for any prizes, it’s goodbye. Val McDermid Read Quote
Back in the day, when I started, you were still allowed to make mistakes. You got to make your mistakes in public, in a way. I think the world was a more forgiving place when I started my career, in the sense that we got time and space to develop as a writer. Val McDermid Read Quote
I won’t be attempting to write Jane Austen-style prose – that would be suicidal. But I will attempt to bring the highest level of my own prose, and to make it sparkle. Val McDermid Read Quote
The thing is that quite a few of my books have ended up as they are because of conversations I’ve had over the years with forensic scientists. Val McDermid Read Quote
I have a vernacular house on the seaside in Northumberland and an Edwardian semi in south Manchester. They’re both exactly as big as they need to be. I can’t be doing with an ostentatious, big house – you can only be in one room at a time. Val McDermid Read Quote
