On writing

“You have to come to some arrangement with them, as it were. You have to persuade them to commit the murder or whatever you want them to do, and in return you have to concede that they will get something they want. Writing fiction is like industrial management. You’ve got this plan for this work you want done, and you’ve got a workforce that just wants to get through the job and go home and get on with their lives. Somehow you’ve got to persuade them, cajole them, bully them, bribe them, or something, to do at least part of what you want.”

 — Michael Frayn on working with characters