Most of the people who write to me are really clever, really engaged. They just want to say that they have read my book and liked it. Denise Mina bookcleverengage Change image and share on social
People are interested in crime fiction when they're quite distanced from crime. People in Darfur are not reading murder mysteries. Denise Mina crimedarfurdistance Change image and share on social
My upbringing was middle-class but my parents' families were both working-class so I had this odd combination of working-class background but in a privileged position. Denise Mina backgroundclasscombination Change image and share on social
In my heart I'm just a lucky waitress. Denise Mina heartluckywaitress Change image and share on social
Crime is a very hard genre to feminise. If you have a female protagonist she is going to be looking after her mum when she gets older; she is going to be worried about her brother and sister; she will be making a living while bringing up kids. Denise Mina bringbrothercrime share on social
I have two children. They are more fun than anything in the world, and it's more immediate fun than the hard slog of writing. Denise Mina childfunhard Change image and share on social
We don't really go in for big family dinners, but Scottish people are famously confrontational. It's a cultural thing, so maybe we don't need to have them to clear the air. Also, traditional family food isn't as nice here so there's no payoff for traveling hundreds of miles. Denise Mina airbigclear share on social
It's all chaos and the house is occasionally filthy but I get to stand at the school gates. Writers are so lucky to have that flexibility. Denise Mina chaosfilthyflexibility Change image and share on social
You have to take your ego out of it and say, do I want people to be obsequious to me or do I want to write good books? If it's the latter, you have to take criticism. It's annoying, but that's how to do good stuff; listen to other people. Denise Mina annoybookcriticism share on social
