If you don't have a unique voice, then you're not really a writer. Kate Atkinson More Quotes by Kate Atkinson More Quotes From Kate Atkinson I was on the verge of something numinous and profound and in one more second the universe was going to crack open and arcana would rain down on my head like grace and all the cosmic mysteries were going to be revealed. Kate Atkinson gracerainprofound Because I write fiction, I don't write autobiography, and to me they are very different things. The first-person narrative is a very intimate thing, but you are not addressing other people as 'I' - you are inhabiting that 'I.' Kate Atkinson differentwritingpeople I had a novel in the back of my mind when I won an Ian St James story competition in 1993. At the award ceremony an agent asked me if I was writing a novel. I showed her four or five chapters of what would become 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum' and to my surprise she auctioned them off. Kate Atkinson awardswritingmuseums Feminism is such an incredibly awkward word for us these days, isnt it? Not to be feminist would be bizarre, wouldnt it? Kate Atkinson feminismawkwardfeminist I'm a lapsed Quaker. I don't go to meetings any more. But I'm very drawn to Catholicism - all that glitter. I'd love to be a Catholic. I think it would be fantastic - faith, forgiveness, absolution, extreme unction - all these wonderful words. I don't think anyone who was ever born a Catholic hasn't died a Catholic, no matter how lapsed they are. Kate Atkinson catholicwould-bethinking The Grim Reaper, Gloria corrected herself - if anyone deserved capital letters it was surely Death. Gloria would rather like to be the Grim Reaper. She wouldn't necessarily be grim, she suspected she would be quite cheerful (Come along now, don't make such a fuss). Kate Atkinson cheerfulwould-beletters When I'm writing, my neural pathways get blocked. I can't read. I can barely hold a conversation without forgetting words and names. I wish I could wear the same clothes and eat the same food each day. Kate Atkinson clothesnameswriting I think about death a lot, I really do, because I can't believe I won't exist. It's the ego isn't it? I feel that I should retreat into a better form of Zen Buddhism than this kind of ego-dominated thing. But I don't know, I mean, I want to come back as a tree but I suspect that it's just not going to happen, is it? Kate Atkinson buddhismmeanbelieve The past is a cupboard full of light and all you have to do is find the key that opens the door. Kate Atkinson lightkeyspast As I watch, the sky fills with clouds of snow feathers from every kind of bird there ever was and even some that only exist in the imagination, like the bluebirds that fly over the rainbow. Kate Atkinson skycloudssnow Hindsight's a wonderful thing. If we all had it there would be no history to write about. Kate Atkinson would-bewritingwonderful Alternate history fascinates me, as it fascinates all novelists, because 'What if?' is the big thing. Kate Atkinson what-ifnovelistsbigs Certainly I had a really terrible time with 'Emotionally Weird.' When I finished it, I thought, 'I can't write any more. Kate Atkinson terrible-timesfinishedwriting I find the past so fascinating. Photographs are strange, almost surreal, almost here yet gone. I slip into thinking what the past must have been like and I enjoy creating that ambience and atmosphere - 1730 to around 1870 is the most interesting period. Kate Atkinson creatingpastthinking I don't have goals when writing books, apart from getting to the end. I have rather vague ideas about how I want things to feel, I'm big on ambience. I have a title, a beginning and a probable ending and go from there. Kate Atkinson writingbookideas I can't imagine what it would be like to write in a relaxed state. I'm going to be writing some stories for my own interest. I want to experiment with different things and see if I can approach writing with much less control and in a better psychological state. It will be like breaking out of a straitjacket. Kate Atkinson differentwould-bewriting Fairy tales opened up a door into my imagination - they don't conform to the reality that's around you as a child. I started reading when I was three and read everything, but I wanted to be an actress. Kate Atkinson readingchildrenreality The great thing about writing compared to life is getting to tie things up. Kate Atkinson tieslife-iswriting My father was an autodidact. It wasn't a middle-class house. Shopkeepers are aspirant. He paid for me to go to private school. He was denied an education - he had a horrible childhood. He got a place at a grammar school and wasn't allowed to go. Kate Atkinson classfatherschool Everyone said, 'Well, you're very old for a first novel,' and I said, 'How do you write when you haven't lived? How do you write when you have no experience? How do you write straight out of university? Kate Atkinson saidwritingfirsts
