When writing fiction, you only have to know enough to be convincing on the page. I mean really convincing, of course – but you don’t need academic depth. – Simon Mawer
Guernsey itself was overcrowded, but its cliffs were utterly empty. I spent a wonderful year with a friend, climbing them. It was sheer magic: you went from this pretty, busy village of an island to the sea cliffs and heard nothing but the gulls and the waves. – Simon Mawer
One of the reasons I wrote ‘The Fall’ is that climbing’s more than a sport, it’s a way of life. When you’re in it, it’s all you think about. – Simon Mawer
Most of those people who saw themselves as literary types at university became bank managers. – Simon Mawer
I was a boarding school product from the age of eight, and I hated it. Though I do have a theory that boarding school is good training for writers because it’s so desperately lacking in privacy: you make space for yourself by having an interior life. – Simon Mawer
Only occasionally do I read new fiction. Most of my reading is heavily dictated by what I’m writing at the time. – Simon Mawer
