1 00:00:00,521 --> 00:00:02,791 It's often been said, and I think it's true, 2 00:00:02,791 --> 00:00:04,741 all writing is rewriting. 3 00:00:04,741 --> 00:00:08,101 It's very rare that when you put something down 4 00:00:08,101 --> 00:00:11,131 for the first time that you don't need to look at it again. 5 00:00:11,131 --> 00:00:15,571 What's more characteristic is that it needs work, needs work, 6 00:00:15,571 --> 00:00:16,754 and rework. 7 00:00:16,754 --> 00:00:23,671 [MUSIC PLAYING] 8 00:00:23,671 --> 00:00:26,461 To be frank, the hardest thing of all 9 00:00:26,461 --> 00:00:28,721 is to make something out of nothing. 10 00:00:28,721 --> 00:00:30,021 You know, that the terror of the blank page. 11 00:00:30,021 --> 00:00:32,551 You know, that the terror of the blank page. 12 00:00:32,551 --> 00:00:33,741 What do you put down on it? 13 00:00:36,471 --> 00:00:40,691 And very often, your first attempt to put something 14 00:00:40,691 --> 00:00:45,941 down on the blank page we'll be imperfect. 15 00:00:45,941 --> 00:00:49,841 And my view is, you should go with that. 16 00:00:49,841 --> 00:00:53,841 It's important to get something down. 17 00:00:53,841 --> 00:00:59,081 Because once you have something down, however rough it is, 18 00:00:59,081 --> 00:01:00,021 then another part of your mind kicks in, 19 00:01:00,021 --> 00:01:01,361 then another part of your mind kicks in, 20 00:01:01,361 --> 00:01:05,021 which is not just your creative imagination 21 00:01:05,021 --> 00:01:07,421 but your critical imagination. 22 00:01:07,421 --> 00:01:10,561 Because then you're looking at a thing that's actually there. 23 00:01:10,561 --> 00:01:12,781 And you can start thinking, what's wrong with this? 24 00:01:12,781 --> 00:01:15,031 And what needs, what needs to be cut? 25 00:01:15,031 --> 00:01:16,181 What needs to be added? 26 00:01:16,181 --> 00:01:18,421 What needs to be changed? 27 00:01:18,421 --> 00:01:22,491 You can look at it critically. 28 00:01:22,491 --> 00:01:26,777 And that becomes a process of improvement. 29 00:01:32,491 --> 00:01:36,151 You will do well to be your own best editor. 30 00:01:41,681 --> 00:01:49,001 What you should look at when you look at your own text 31 00:01:49,001 --> 00:01:49,831 is two things. 32 00:01:49,831 --> 00:01:52,191 One is, are there things that you 33 00:01:52,191 --> 00:01:56,151 are saying that are superfluous that you don't need to say? 34 00:01:56,151 --> 00:01:59,139 That it would be better if you didn't say them? 35 00:01:59,139 --> 00:02:00,021 And are there things that you haven't 36 00:02:00,021 --> 00:02:00,681 And are there things that you haven't 37 00:02:00,681 --> 00:02:03,891 said that need to be said, and that would improve 38 00:02:03,891 --> 00:02:05,841 the text if you did say them? 39 00:02:05,841 --> 00:02:09,231 You have to look at both. 40 00:02:09,231 --> 00:02:13,461 Both having said too much and having said too little. 41 00:02:13,461 --> 00:02:20,101 And if you use those two tests on every page, it can be very, 42 00:02:20,101 --> 00:02:24,361 it can actually make you read your work very objectively. 43 00:02:30,241 --> 00:02:33,351 You should be revising your language, constantly. 44 00:02:36,401 --> 00:02:43,841 And sometimes, you want to revise the actual action. 45 00:02:43,841 --> 00:02:47,851 Maybe you think that something that you had planned-- 46 00:02:47,851 --> 00:02:50,851 that when you actually get round to doing it, 47 00:02:50,851 --> 00:02:54,831 it's kind of not satisfying to you. 48 00:02:54,831 --> 00:02:57,381 And you have to find a different way. 49 00:02:57,381 --> 00:03:00,021 I'm looking at the language and I'm 50 00:03:00,021 --> 00:03:00,351 I'm looking at the language and I'm 51 00:03:00,351 --> 00:03:04,006 looking at the development of the story all the time, 52 00:03:04,006 --> 00:03:07,841 and trying to see if it's going the way I want it to go. 53 00:03:07,841 --> 00:03:09,101 Or are there false notes? 54 00:03:09,101 --> 00:03:10,811 Are there some other things that I 55 00:03:10,811 --> 00:03:15,011 thought would be good that end up being less successful than I 56 00:03:15,011 --> 00:03:15,959 hoped they would be? 57 00:03:15,959 --> 00:03:17,501 This can happen also with characters. 58 00:03:17,501 --> 00:03:20,741 A character that you think is going to be an important 59 00:03:20,741 --> 00:03:25,201 character, when you actually introduce them, 60 00:03:25,201 --> 00:03:26,701 you realize that they're-- actually, 61 00:03:26,701 --> 00:03:29,251 you don't have that much room for them. 62 00:03:29,251 --> 00:03:30,021 And they can become a much smaller character, 63 00:03:30,021 --> 00:03:31,411 And they can become a much smaller character, 64 00:03:31,411 --> 00:03:34,591 or they can, sometimes you can leave them out altogether. 65 00:03:34,591 --> 00:03:35,614 And vice versa. 66 00:03:35,614 --> 00:03:37,531 They can be characters which you didn't expect 67 00:03:37,531 --> 00:03:43,011 to be big characters, but who somehow force themselves 68 00:03:43,011 --> 00:03:43,761 upon you. 69 00:03:43,761 --> 00:03:46,071 They're too interesting when you start making them. 70 00:03:46,071 --> 00:03:47,331 You want more of them. 71 00:03:47,331 --> 00:03:49,251 You want to give them more scenes. 72 00:03:49,251 --> 00:03:53,851 And so they grow in the book. 73 00:03:53,851 --> 00:03:56,121 I always like that when that happens because it makes 74 00:03:56,121 --> 00:03:58,701 me feel that the book has a kind of organic life of its own. 75 00:04:01,671 --> 00:04:03,231 That I'm trying to stay in charge of, 76 00:04:03,231 --> 00:04:07,011 but I'm also interested that it grows in its own way 77 00:04:07,011 --> 00:04:08,551 and it tells me things. 78 00:04:08,551 --> 00:04:09,051 But 79 00:04:09,051 --> 00:04:13,281 Yeah, I think you have to just, you have to be very alert when 80 00:04:13,281 --> 00:04:16,281 you're writing a book, both to questions of language 81 00:04:16,281 --> 00:04:20,120 and to questions of form, and to questions of story. 82 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:21,501 You have to watch it all the time 83 00:04:21,501 --> 00:04:24,081 because it's very easy for a book 84 00:04:24,081 --> 00:04:25,551 to go slightly off the rails. 85 00:04:25,551 --> 00:04:27,171 And when it's doing that, you need 86 00:04:27,171 --> 00:04:28,911 to be able to put it back on the rails. 87 00:04:35,711 --> 00:04:39,401 The truth is, when you have a big book, 88 00:04:39,401 --> 00:04:42,311 and there's a lot of characters coming in and out-- 89 00:04:44,931 --> 00:04:47,661 you can make all the notes you want. 90 00:04:47,661 --> 00:04:52,701 You can draw as many diagrams as you like. 91 00:04:52,701 --> 00:04:56,991 But in the end, you hold it in your head. 92 00:04:56,991 --> 00:05:00,021 I mean, I find that I just have this spider's web in my head 93 00:05:00,021 --> 00:05:03,561 I mean, I find that I just have this spider's web in my head 94 00:05:03,561 --> 00:05:07,761 connecting all the people to each other. 95 00:05:07,761 --> 00:05:11,361 And it stays there all the time I'm writing the book. 96 00:05:11,361 --> 00:05:15,941 And it's my way of knowing who's doing what to whom. 97 00:05:15,941 --> 00:05:17,691 And you can feel it there when it's there. 98 00:05:17,691 --> 00:05:20,831 You know how everybody connects to everybody. 99 00:05:20,831 --> 00:05:23,271 And I find a very strange thing that 100 00:05:23,271 --> 00:05:26,661 happens when I'm finishing a book 101 00:05:26,661 --> 00:05:29,696 is that at a certain moment, the spider's web disappears. 102 00:05:29,696 --> 00:05:30,021 And you don't have the book in your head in the way 103 00:05:30,021 --> 00:05:31,821 And you don't have the book in your head in the way 104 00:05:31,821 --> 00:05:35,091 that you've had it for X years. 105 00:05:35,091 --> 00:05:38,241 At that point, it becomes very dangerous to revise it. 106 00:05:38,241 --> 00:05:42,261 However, whatever it is, at that point, 107 00:05:42,261 --> 00:05:45,801 it's like performing brain surgery blindfold 108 00:05:45,801 --> 00:05:48,033 or wearing boxing gloves. 109 00:05:48,033 --> 00:05:49,491 And there's a moment where you just 110 00:05:49,491 --> 00:05:52,881 have to think, OK, whatever this book is, 111 00:05:52,881 --> 00:05:58,011 whatever its faults are, this is what it is. 112 00:05:58,011 --> 00:05:59,650 I can't touch it anymore. 113 00:06:05,401 --> 00:06:07,881 There's no worthwhile book that was simply 114 00:06:07,881 --> 00:06:11,361 written once and published. 115 00:06:11,361 --> 00:06:12,911 Because it's not how the mind works. 116 00:06:15,501 --> 00:06:17,481 We try to approximate what we're doing. 117 00:06:17,481 --> 00:06:20,121 And then we try gradually to get closer and closer and closer 118 00:06:20,121 --> 00:06:22,801 to what we think we were supposed to be doing. 119 00:06:22,801 --> 00:06:25,281 So yeah, revision is everything. 120 00:06:25,281 --> 00:06:30,021 Sometimes it feels better just to go on, and try and get 121 00:06:30,021 --> 00:06:31,391 Sometimes it feels better just to go on, and try and get 122 00:06:31,391 --> 00:06:35,741 some kind of a draft down on paper. 123 00:06:35,741 --> 00:06:37,211 And then maybe step away from it. 124 00:06:37,211 --> 00:06:38,681 Take a bit of a break. 125 00:06:38,681 --> 00:06:42,011 I've always found just the act of getting 126 00:06:42,011 --> 00:06:48,091 to the end of a story or a book immediately shows me 127 00:06:48,091 --> 00:06:49,681 what I needed to do before. 128 00:06:49,681 --> 00:06:51,781 You get to the end, and you think, oh. 129 00:06:51,781 --> 00:06:53,911 Yeah, but I needed to have much more of this. 130 00:06:53,911 --> 00:06:56,251 And I needed to have much less of that. 131 00:06:56,251 --> 00:06:58,571 And this is wrong, but that is right. 132 00:06:58,571 --> 00:07:00,021 And suddenly, you begin to see the book just because you have 133 00:07:00,021 --> 00:07:03,031 And suddenly, you begin to see the book just because you have 134 00:07:03,031 --> 00:07:04,281 the whole thing sitting there. 135 00:07:04,281 --> 00:07:08,241 So there is a good case for saying 136 00:07:08,241 --> 00:07:10,731 you should just press on and get something down. 137 00:07:10,731 --> 00:07:12,831 And then take a step back and then look at it. 138 00:07:12,831 --> 00:07:17,862 And then go into it and try and fix. 139 00:07:17,862 --> 00:07:19,571 I mean another way of doing things, which 140 00:07:19,571 --> 00:07:22,781 I find that I do more and more nowadays, 141 00:07:22,781 --> 00:07:26,341 is to fix all the time. 142 00:07:26,341 --> 00:07:30,021 That's to say, if I do a day's writing, always the last thing 143 00:07:30,021 --> 00:07:33,721 That's to say, if I do a day's writing, always the last thing 144 00:07:33,721 --> 00:07:37,161 I do at night after having stepped away from the desk, 145 00:07:37,161 --> 00:07:41,121 and had dinner, or whatever it is, I always read 146 00:07:41,121 --> 00:07:46,341 what I wrote that day again. 147 00:07:46,341 --> 00:07:47,671 And that's for two reasons. 148 00:07:47,671 --> 00:07:50,001 The first reason is that maybe I can 149 00:07:50,001 --> 00:07:52,551 see something that needs fixing, in which case 150 00:07:52,551 --> 00:07:54,301 I'll try and fix it. 151 00:07:54,301 --> 00:07:58,361 And the second reason is that it puts the book in your head 152 00:07:58,361 --> 00:08:00,021 so that it's there in the morning when you wake up. 153 00:08:00,021 --> 00:08:02,161 so that it's there in the morning when you wake up. 154 00:08:02,161 --> 00:08:03,801 And you can go forward. 155 00:08:03,801 --> 00:08:08,221 But I would say that the important thing 156 00:08:08,221 --> 00:08:11,441 is to be able to step back from the work. 157 00:08:11,441 --> 00:08:14,561 And then come back to it and look at it afresh. 158 00:08:14,561 --> 00:08:18,739 The critic Randall Jarrell had a very nice funny line. 159 00:08:18,739 --> 00:08:21,281 He said a novel is a long piece of writing that has something 160 00:08:21,281 --> 00:08:23,051 wrong with it. 161 00:08:23,051 --> 00:08:26,151 That I think is probably true. 162 00:08:26,151 --> 00:08:30,021 And if you're writing something that's 80,000, 90,000, 100,000, 163 00:08:30,021 --> 00:08:30,071 And if you're writing something that's 80,000, 90,000, 100,000, 164 00:08:30,071 --> 00:08:33,940 200,000 words long, it's kind of impossible 165 00:08:33,940 --> 00:08:35,440 that every word will be perfect. 166 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:37,601 So perfection becomes a kind of pipe dream. 167 00:08:37,601 --> 00:08:39,731 What you have to try and do is to make 168 00:08:39,731 --> 00:08:42,161 it as perfect as possible while understanding 169 00:08:42,161 --> 00:08:44,831 that there will be imperfection because everybody 170 00:08:44,831 --> 00:08:45,581 suffers from that. 171 00:08:51,901 --> 00:08:56,851 What you need to know is that it's always 172 00:08:56,851 --> 00:09:00,021 possible to make something a little better. 173 00:09:00,021 --> 00:09:01,641 possible to make something a little better. 174 00:09:04,911 --> 00:09:11,601 It's good to have an attitude of dissatisfaction with your work. 175 00:09:11,601 --> 00:09:13,941 Look at every sentence all the time. 176 00:09:13,941 --> 00:09:15,561 Do I need that sentence? 177 00:09:15,561 --> 00:09:17,121 Is that the right word? 178 00:09:17,121 --> 00:09:20,451 This is what I have always done long after the editorial 179 00:09:20,451 --> 00:09:22,491 process is over, when the book is 180 00:09:22,491 --> 00:09:25,041 in the process of being made. 181 00:09:25,041 --> 00:09:28,641 I'm still almost every day reading over and over 182 00:09:28,641 --> 00:09:29,991 and over and over it. 183 00:09:29,991 --> 00:09:30,021 And trying to see is they just some tiny little thing? 184 00:09:30,021 --> 00:09:32,991 And trying to see is they just some tiny little thing? 185 00:09:32,991 --> 00:09:34,821 Is there a comma I don't need? 186 00:09:34,821 --> 00:09:38,801 Is there a paragraph I should break into two paragraphs? 187 00:09:38,801 --> 00:09:42,121 Is there a sentence that needs to be added? 188 00:09:42,121 --> 00:09:45,231 And usually, this goes on in the production period 189 00:09:45,231 --> 00:09:48,471 until you get the first galleys. 190 00:09:48,471 --> 00:09:54,261 And when they arrive, your publishers will say to you, 191 00:09:54,261 --> 00:09:59,111 as it were, this is your last chance to touch the book. 192 00:09:59,111 --> 00:10:00,021 And so that read is very important 193 00:10:00,021 --> 00:10:02,651 And so that read is very important 194 00:10:02,651 --> 00:10:04,631 because it is your last chance. 195 00:10:04,631 --> 00:10:06,561 After that, it is what it is. 196 00:10:06,561 --> 00:10:07,061 Yeah. 197 00:10:07,061 --> 00:10:15,711 My view is that I am very skeptical of what I've done. 198 00:10:15,711 --> 00:10:20,921 And I'm constantly trying to tweak it until-- 199 00:10:20,921 --> 00:10:23,661 and these can be tiny tweaks. 200 00:10:23,661 --> 00:10:27,011 But sometimes a tiny tweak can make a substantial difference 201 00:10:27,011 --> 00:10:30,021 to the way in which a paragraph is read. 202 00:10:30,021 --> 00:10:30,131 to the way in which a paragraph is read. 203 00:10:30,131 --> 00:10:35,681 So it's worth going on and on and on, going over and over 204 00:10:35,681 --> 00:10:39,206 and over and over it until you can't anymore. 205 00:10:39,206 --> 00:10:40,831 And then you just have to live with it. 206 00:10:47,451 --> 00:10:53,591 The thing about knowing when it's bad, 207 00:10:53,591 --> 00:10:58,331 it should be more or less in built. 208 00:10:58,331 --> 00:11:00,021 I think most people who are at all 209 00:11:00,021 --> 00:11:01,241 I think most people who are at all 210 00:11:01,241 --> 00:11:05,681 good at writing can see when they've made missteps, 211 00:11:05,681 --> 00:11:08,831 and when there are false notes. 212 00:11:08,831 --> 00:11:13,141 I mean, the truth is that if you can't tell when it's not good, 213 00:11:13,141 --> 00:11:14,866 then you have a bit of a problem. 214 00:11:14,866 --> 00:11:16,741 Because if you can't tell when it's not good, 215 00:11:16,741 --> 00:11:19,261 you can't really tell when it is good. 216 00:11:19,261 --> 00:11:21,481 Again, I mean, I would say the only real-- 217 00:11:21,481 --> 00:11:23,221 there isn't a trick to it. 218 00:11:23,221 --> 00:11:27,941 The only trick to it is to be, is to read a lot, 219 00:11:27,941 --> 00:11:30,021 and to know, to know what it is that good writing is. 220 00:11:30,021 --> 00:11:34,101 and to know, to know what it is that good writing is. 221 00:11:34,101 --> 00:11:36,851 And I think you only get that knowledge by reading. 222 00:11:39,961 --> 00:11:41,899 And then be ruthless with yourself. 223 00:11:41,899 --> 00:11:44,191 I mean, Hemingway has this line that every writer needs 224 00:11:44,191 --> 00:11:47,058 to have a good shit detector. 225 00:11:47,058 --> 00:11:49,141 What he means is, if you don't know when it's bad, 226 00:11:49,141 --> 00:11:50,391 you don't know when it's good. 227 00:11:56,731 --> 00:12:00,021 So what we have here is from my literary archive 228 00:12:00,021 --> 00:12:02,861 So what we have here is from my literary archive 229 00:12:02,861 --> 00:12:05,681 which is at Emory University in Atlanta. 230 00:12:05,681 --> 00:12:13,821 Some pages which are early versions of the beginning 231 00:12:13,821 --> 00:12:15,111 of "Midnight's Children." 232 00:12:15,111 --> 00:12:21,321 Typed on my little Olivetti Dora portable typewriter. 233 00:12:21,321 --> 00:12:25,761 In those days, long before the arrival of anything 234 00:12:25,761 --> 00:12:26,871 like a computer. 235 00:12:26,871 --> 00:12:30,021 They're annotated because these are unfinished pages. 236 00:12:30,021 --> 00:12:31,271 They're annotated because these are unfinished pages. 237 00:12:31,271 --> 00:12:35,181 Some of the versions here are quite like how it ended up, 238 00:12:35,181 --> 00:12:37,341 and some of them begin in different places. 239 00:12:37,341 --> 00:12:44,789 For instance, there's a section here which is in the novel 240 00:12:44,789 --> 00:12:46,581 but begins in a completely different place. 241 00:12:46,581 --> 00:12:52,591 It begins with Saleem as a boy in the garden of his family 242 00:12:52,591 --> 00:12:57,084 house in Bombay with his father, watching 243 00:12:57,084 --> 00:12:59,501 what had just been launched, which was the Russian Sputnik 244 00:12:59,501 --> 00:13:00,021 satellite. 245 00:13:00,021 --> 00:13:01,181 satellite. 246 00:13:01,181 --> 00:13:03,491 And I remembered as a child standing 247 00:13:03,491 --> 00:13:05,788 in the garden with my father. 248 00:13:05,788 --> 00:13:07,121 And him saying, look over there. 249 00:13:07,121 --> 00:13:10,046 And you saw this moving dot, shining, moving dot, 250 00:13:10,046 --> 00:13:11,701 moving across the sky. 251 00:13:11,701 --> 00:13:13,601 It was just a magical moment of my childhood, 252 00:13:13,601 --> 00:13:15,321 and I wanted to use it. 253 00:13:15,321 --> 00:13:19,481 But in the end, I thought, that doesn't set it up in the way 254 00:13:19,481 --> 00:13:20,811 that it needs to be set up. 255 00:13:20,811 --> 00:13:22,961 So this is an early version of the beginning. 256 00:13:22,961 --> 00:13:25,691 And it's actually described as a prologue. 257 00:13:25,691 --> 00:13:29,071 And it's called omnipotence. 258 00:13:29,071 --> 00:13:30,021 We're in the garden in the evening watching 259 00:13:30,021 --> 00:13:31,801 We're in the garden in the evening watching 260 00:13:31,801 --> 00:13:33,781 the Sputnik cross the sky. 261 00:13:33,781 --> 00:13:38,551 I'm thinking of Laika, the first and last dog in space. 262 00:13:38,551 --> 00:13:40,891 I remember as a child feeling very sad for the dogs. 263 00:13:40,891 --> 00:13:43,981 Dog was up there, wasn't coming back. 264 00:13:43,981 --> 00:13:46,411 And the idea of this dog being sent into space 265 00:13:46,411 --> 00:13:50,911 to die I thought was very moving and sad. 266 00:13:50,911 --> 00:13:54,391 And the thing about that is it came 267 00:13:54,391 --> 00:13:59,441 to feel to me like the beginning of a different kind of novel. 268 00:13:59,441 --> 00:14:00,021 In a way, that's the beginning of the kind of novel 269 00:14:00,021 --> 00:14:01,871 In a way, that's the beginning of the kind of novel 270 00:14:01,871 --> 00:14:06,011 I originally conceived of, which was a novel about childhood. 271 00:14:06,011 --> 00:14:08,291 And that would be a good beginning 272 00:14:08,291 --> 00:14:10,611 for a novel about childhood. 273 00:14:10,611 --> 00:14:15,111 But because I now had this rather larger plan 274 00:14:15,111 --> 00:14:18,001 for the book, where it would be not only about childhood, 275 00:14:18,001 --> 00:14:24,501 but also about India, about the first 30 276 00:14:24,501 --> 00:14:27,191 years of independent India, I thought 277 00:14:27,191 --> 00:14:29,501 that doesn't set it up the right way. 278 00:14:29,501 --> 00:14:30,021 And then the beginning that I found 279 00:14:30,021 --> 00:14:33,851 And then the beginning that I found 280 00:14:33,851 --> 00:14:35,164 I thought set it up better. 281 00:14:35,164 --> 00:14:37,331 This novel took an enormous amount of time to write. 282 00:14:37,331 --> 00:14:40,361 It took me pretty close to five years to write. 283 00:14:40,361 --> 00:14:46,071 I think I started writing it in 1975 or 6, 284 00:14:46,071 --> 00:14:48,891 and wrote it for a number of years. 285 00:14:48,891 --> 00:14:57,451 And partly, it was slow going because I had really bitten 286 00:14:57,451 --> 00:14:58,631 off more than I could chew. 287 00:14:58,631 --> 00:15:00,021 I mean, it was a really very big, ambitious idea. 288 00:15:00,021 --> 00:15:03,061 I mean, it was a really very big, ambitious idea. 289 00:15:03,061 --> 00:15:06,711 And I was a very inexperienced writer. 290 00:15:06,711 --> 00:15:09,721 So there was a lot of stopping and starting, and wondering 291 00:15:09,721 --> 00:15:15,001 how to do the next bit, and trying to not panic, 292 00:15:15,001 --> 00:15:18,711 and to remain confident that it would work out in the end. 293 00:15:18,711 --> 00:15:21,521 So there was a lot of that going on. 294 00:15:21,521 --> 00:15:28,301 And yes, a lot of writing and rewriting along the way. 295 00:15:28,301 --> 00:15:30,021 I mean, it was the most ambitious thing 296 00:15:30,021 --> 00:15:31,301 I mean, it was the most ambitious thing 297 00:15:31,301 --> 00:15:33,671 by a million miles that I'd ever tried to do. 298 00:15:36,321 --> 00:15:40,481 And as I say, I was not at all confident of my ability 299 00:15:40,481 --> 00:15:42,801 to pull it off. 300 00:15:42,801 --> 00:15:46,081 And indeed, when I'd finished writing it-- 301 00:15:46,081 --> 00:15:48,961 I mean, when I finished writing it, I was quite happy with it. 302 00:15:48,961 --> 00:15:54,431 I thought, you far as I can tell, this is a good book. 303 00:15:54,431 --> 00:15:56,441 But because until that moment, I had really 304 00:15:56,441 --> 00:16:00,021 no success as a writer at all, I wasn't confident 305 00:16:00,021 --> 00:16:00,251 no success as a writer at all, I wasn't confident 306 00:16:00,251 --> 00:16:03,011 that my judgment would be shared by anybody else. 307 00:16:05,711 --> 00:16:08,351 And so I remember thinking, well, 308 00:16:08,351 --> 00:16:11,081 if people don't agree that this is a good book, 309 00:16:11,081 --> 00:16:14,011 then maybe I don't know what a good book is, 310 00:16:14,011 --> 00:16:18,181 and I should maybe give up trying to write it. 311 00:16:18,181 --> 00:16:22,411 So there was an enormous amount for me personally riding on it. 312 00:16:22,411 --> 00:16:25,411 And I mean, fortunately, people did think it was a good book. 313 00:16:25,411 --> 00:16:28,621 And so here I am all these years later still writing 314 00:16:28,621 --> 00:16:30,021 books as a result. 315 00:16:30,021 --> 00:16:31,191 books as a result.