Hilary Mantel's Method

Hilary Mantel describes how she works on a novel.

"• Become a magpie. Collect anything that attracts you: images, phrases, little glimpses, footnotes from books ... Cut them out if you can, record them on blank postcards, scribble them in a notebook.

• At some point you will discover some titbit that feels like the seed of a new novel. Tantalisingly, this will occur while you are in the middle of a completely different novel."

The rest is here.