It’s that kind of thing that readers have. I have it as a reader myself: that expectation that the writer will be that person. Then I meet other writers and realize that they’re not. – Irvine Welsh
I think a lot of people want me to be like the characters in the books: they want that kind of congruence. – Irvine Welsh
A lot of people pulled me up after ‘Trainspotting’ for its absence of politics, but the argument I make is that the absence of politics is political as well. – Irvine Welsh
It’s different in Scotland. People who come to readings are more interested in literature as such, but the readership in general is really quite diverse. It’s a cliche, but it’s said that people who read my books don’t read any other books, and you do get that element. – Irvine Welsh
When I left school at 16, I became an apprentice television and radio technician, and was paid รด?17 a week, which was decent money in 1976. But the job turned sour when I gave myself an electric shock while repairing a television set. – Irvine Welsh
I tried to write ‘Trainspotting’ in standard English, but people weren’t talking like that. – Irvine Welsh
When people start writing there is this idea that you have to get everything right first time, every sentence has to be perfect, every paragraph has to be perfect, every chapter has to be perfect, but what you’re doing is not any kind of public show, until you’re ready for it. – Irvine Welsh
I’m working on a screenplay right now for the BBC, but I hope to have the decks cleared soon so I can get into the studio with my pals and put down some more tracks, try to get a strong dance single together. – Irvine Welsh
Standard English is very imperialistic, controlled, and precise; it’s not got a lot of funk or soul to it. – Irvine Welsh
I’ve eaten ice cream from all over the world, but until you’ve tasted Graham’s from Geneva, Illinois, you haven’t had ice cream at all. – Irvine Welsh
In my flat in Chicago, I’ve got this big room with an office in the corner and a balcony so I can watch people go by. – Irvine Welsh
I think that every project offers an opportunity to reinvent process as well as content. – Irvine Welsh
Everybody in my family were great storytellers. My dad and his brothers would just go on and on; they could tell amazing stories. I think it was something to do with the Celtic, oral storytelling tradition. People very much had that propensity towards telling tales. – Irvine Welsh
I think young writers should get other degrees first, social sciences, arts degrees or even business degrees. What you learn is research skills, a necessity because a lot of writing is about trying to find information. – Irvine Welsh
Sometimes there’s a snobbery among literary types that these people don’t really get it, but in a lot of ways they get it more than the literati. There’s a culture in the background that they understand and know. They get that deeper level. – Irvine Welsh
When I’m not writing, I read loads of fiction, but I’ve been writing quite constantly lately so I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction – philosophy, religion, science, history, social or cultural studies. – Irvine Welsh
In America, Miramax are using a ‘New York Times’ review that said ‘Trainspotting’ makes ‘Kids’ look like a 1960s episode of ‘Sesame Street.’ – Irvine Welsh
I think the novel is at one end of the art-entertainment continuum – the play in the middle – while TV and cinema veer a bit more towards entertainment. – Irvine Welsh
I don’t want everything to be flowery perfection. I like it there to be a charge behind it, you know? – Irvine Welsh
People think if you’re working class, there has to be some fascist element underneath. – Irvine Welsh
You’re on your own with the book. And while you are writing fiction, you’re spending all this time with people who don’t actually exist, which is just madness. – Irvine Welsh
People should be able to express their culture without getting into all that chauvinistic thing. – Irvine Welsh
