Jan 31, 2010
A Reflective Aside

Infatuation. That’s a good word for our dizzy relationship with places we feel particular affinity for. I’ve often thought this–that our relationship to, say, a city, has the same qualities as our relationship to a lover or a partner. I feel that with Oxford–this is what I keep trying and then re-trying to represent in The Book, The Book which has become like a beast in my mind. I keep trying to over-complicate it, as if I don’t trust myself, when really it is all very simple. Really it is only a manifestation of a love affair with a particular place.

The thing I have to keep reminding myself whilst writing is – just tell the god damn story. I do the same – overcomplicating it, trying to make more out of it…in the end, I just want a really good story.