“When I first started to get into writing, it was via music. I'd generate ideas f…” — Irvine Welsh

When people write a novel, they want to have that reach and that impact. To get it with a first novel, you can either see it as an albatross or a calling card.

It's where you come from that's the strange, exotic, quirky, mad place.

There is a kind of mysticism to writing.

The first job of a writer is to be honest.