I find writing the darker side, writing tragedy, a lot easier than writing happiness. Happiness is just less psychologically compelling, isn't it? Paula Hawkins More Quotes by Paula Hawkins More Quotes From Paula Hawkins I know people like to read about serial killers and spies, but most of us will never encounter these things. Sadly, most of the threats we encounter are at home. Paula Hawkins never know home people Things like the movie 'Memento' are interesting to me because our memories of the things we've done and how we've behaved form our notion of who we are, what our character is. So if part of that were missing, what does that actually say about you? And what does it say about your sense of responsibility for things if you can't remember them? Paula Hawkins me you character memories People think it's terribly sad to spend Christmas alone, but it's no sadder, really, than spending any other day alone, is it? Paula Hawkins alone day sad christmas I was kind of broke . 'The Girl on the Train' was a last roll of the dice for me as a fiction writer. Paula Hawkins last me girl train I realized I do tragedy better than comedy. Paula Hawkins than better comedy tragedy The journalism, I was a financial journalist - it's very good training as a writer. You have to write for deadlines; you have a certain economy of phrasing. As a training ground as a writer, it's fantastic. I also think it teaches you to be observant, to listen to people, and gives you an ear of dialogue from doing interviews. Paula Hawkins good you training people I'm not romantic, and I don't like Christmas. Paula Hawkins like christmas romantic I grew up in Zimbabwe in Southern Africa, and I moved to London when I was 17. And I started commuting and, actually, to go to college. And I used to really enjoy that part of my journey where the - it was actually a Tube train, but it was over ground, and it went right past the backs of people's houses, and I could actually see right in. Paula Hawkins enjoy journey people past The first Amy Silver book was commissioned, and they were not books that came completely from me. They weren't necessarily the sort of books I read, and although I enjoyed doing them very much, and they were great training, I never felt completely comfortable in that genre. Paula Hawkins great me training book I adore Kate Atkinson, her literary as well as her crime output. Paula Hawkins her well crime adore When I'm writing, I don't read much crime at all - you don't want to get distracted by other people's plots. Paula Hawkins you crime writing people When I wrote 'The Girl on the Train,' nobody knew who I was, and that's quite a comfortable position to be writing in. Paula Hawkins nobody girl train writing The sort of enjoyment that we all get from that voyeuristic impulse of looking into other people's house as we pass them, and the idea that there might be something sinister or strange going on in the houses we pass every day or in our neighborhood, is a very compelling idea. Paula Hawkins every-day looking day people Obviously, my name is known now, but I don't think people generally tend to recognize authors very much. People like J. K. Rowling maybe, Gillian Flynn might be recognized, but I reckon she could walk by me on the street, and I wouldn't know who she was. Paula Hawkins name walk me people You can do fascinating things with the tricks memory can play and tell. People can come to believe things which didn't happen at all if they're told them enough times. Paula Hawkins memory you believe people Certainly, there is a tendency to lump women who write similar types of books together, and it's not just in crime, is it? Women's fiction is supposedly a whole genre of itself. There's no male equivalent. Paula Hawkins just women crime together When I write, I imagine places more than people. Paula Hawkins places more imagine people I don't have a partner, so I take care of the mortgage by myself, and I was thinking, 'Oh God, I'm going to have to sell the house or find a new career.' I was not in a good place, but it was a real spur to get 'The Girl on the Train' right. I had to nail it and do it really well. It really concentrates the mind, that kind of thing. Paula Hawkins good myself girl god 'The Woman on the Train' just didn't sound as good. I'll take care next time not to have 'girl' in the title. Paula Hawkins woman good girl time I spent a lot of time writing about tax and pensions and mortgages. Paula Hawkins tax about writing time
