William Boyd: my advice for budding authors | Books | The Guardian

Boyd avoided a family tradition of going into "sensible" professions. At a Guardian Live event for his latest book Sweet Caress he spoke to critic Alex Clark about his career, peppering his reflections with advice for would-be writers. While being a successful novelist "is not something you can buy or learn," he said, and comes from "a combination of a gift and application, talent and luck" there are four questions you need to ask yourself before you set out on a career as a writer.