"'The Blade Itself' was my first book. Probably I should've tried a few short stories first, but for some reason I decided to begin with Everest."

"I think the further away you get from completing a book, the more responses you see to it from readers, the more your own tastes and opinions shift and the more you start to see things you could have written differently in the detail, or done differently on the broader scale of plot and character."

"As a writer, you have to first of all write what you want to. Listen to advice, by all means, but don't get bogged down in it."

"I got into reading a lot of noir and a lot of thrillers as well, and I really admired the plotting about those and the way that they can surprise you. And obviously to surprise people and to have twists in the tale, you have to plan quite carefully."

"After I read all the medical journals and watched all the documentaries, I still didn't understand the physical sensation of ticking and where it comes from and what it feels like."

"There was a chance for me to write one song for the section where Elvis sat in his black leather outfit and sang the old hits. At eight oclock the next morning I had written Memories."

"You want people to feel something when you tell a story, whether they feel happy or whether they feel sad."

"I publish my own books, so there isn't a certain editor I owe the book to at a publishing house."