Skip to Content

'Never use a metaphor and then explain it'

22 May 2023

'For God's sake, never use a metaphor and then explain it...

You can assume a world from so little and readers will. So I'm more interested economy than encyclopaedism, in how little you can get away with rather than how much you can cram in...

I don't want to write puzzle stories that can be decoded to the correct answer...

I wanted to write a book about writing a book...'

M John Harrison, author of The Pastel City, Light, Nova Swing, A Storm of Wings and the Virconium sequence, amongst his 16 novels and short story collections, in an interview about his new book, Wish I was Here, in The Times