“We are all potentially characters in a novel--with the difference that characters in a novel really get to live their lives to the full.”

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”

“As women, we are the protagonists of our own personal novels. We are called upon to be the heroines of our own lives, not supporting characters.”

“Apparently, he was too busy living his own life to be a character in the imaginary novel that was mine.”

“Apparently, he was too bust living his own life to be a character in the imaginary novel that was mine.”

“Plenty of people were writing novels; in fact, if one did a survey in the street, half of Edinburgh was writing a novel, and this meant that there really weren't enough characters to go round. Unless, of course, one wrote about people who were themselves writing novels. And what would the novels that these fictional characters were writing be about? Well, they would be novels about people writing novels.”