" I always want to be as original as I can be. It’s a bit of a cliché to say, but the idea is to write a ‘novel’, and I don’t see any point in just rehashing stuff that’s gone before, no matter what the commercial benefits. My gut feeling is that patterns are bad – and I mean that as much for readers as for writers. The problem with publishing, if there is one, is the search for patterns, and the pigeonholing that goes along with it. I do understand it – it’s a natural consequence of the commodification of anything – but it’s something I constantly feel the need to negotiate with myself, at least, if not subvert as much as possible. "