The novelist has a responsibility to adhere to the facts as closely as possible, and if they are inconvenient, that's where the art comes in. You must work with intractable facts and find the dramatic shape inside them. Hilary Mantel adhereartclosely share on social
I would have been a disaster as a career politician. I would never have toed a party line. Hilary Mantel careerdisasterline Change image and share on social
If you have a good story idea, don't assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible. Hilary Mantel assumeflexibleform Change image and share on social
When you get fat, you get a new personality. You can't help it. Complete strangers ascribe it to you. Hilary Mantel ascribecompletefat Change image and share on social
I've got so many ideas, and sometimes the more exhausted my body gets, the more active my mind gets. Hilary Mantel activebodyexhaust Change image and share on social
Insights don't usually arrive at my desk, but go into notebooks when I'm on the move. Or half-asleep. Hilary Mantel arriveasleepdesk Change image and share on social
For myself, the only way I know how to make a book is to construct it like a collage: a bit of dialogue here, a scrap of narrative, an isolated description of a common object, an elaborate running metaphor which threads between the sequences and holds different narrative lines together. Hilary Mantel bitebookcollage share on social
When I was thin, I had no notion of what being fat is like. When I worked in a department store, I had sold clothes to women of most sizes, so I should have known; but perhaps you have to experience the state from the inside, to understand what fat is like. Hilary Mantel clothedepartmentexperience share on social
When I was a child, there was very little money, so I've always been concerned for my financial security, which has meant that finding myself as a writer was a bad move. The practical difference the money has made is that I can support myself by fiction. That is what I have been trying to do throughout my life. Hilary Mantel badchildconcern share on social
Writing comes from that territory of being invalidated. But I had a sense of purpose, too. I wanted to stop apologising for my health, and I thought I might do some good. Hilary Mantel apologisegoodhealth Change image and share on social