00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at the Sussex Newspapers. Huge
00:06pleasure this afternoon to speak to Sir Alexander McCall Smith about the fact that you are heading
00:11to Chittester Cathedral, where you'll be talking about your work on October the 25th. It's
00:18a lovely prospect, and goodness, you'll have so much to talk about, not the least how prolific
00:23you are. You were saying that it's pretty much five books a year across a number of different
00:29series. That's quite something to sustain, isn't it? Well, it is quite a task that I set myself,
00:39but in fact, I enjoy it very much. I think that if I didn't like writing books, I wouldn't write
00:46even one a year, but I like writing books a great deal. So five books a year is something that I...
00:52But where does that drive come from? And it's unusual across different series, isn't it?
00:58I think that people who write often do so because they just feel they have to, in the same way
01:04in which people who enjoy playing the piano or dancing or whatever one likes doing, feel a
01:14certain compulsion to, or desire, perhaps compulsion, to do what they do. So if I don't write on any
01:22particular day, I feel that something's missing from my day.
01:27Every day you write without Felden, is that a reflection of discipline? You must be very
01:33disciplined in your approach.
01:35There is a bit of that. I think that books don't write themselves. And so you really do have to sit
01:43at your desk and apply yourself to it. I find that I do that. I can't come up with excuses.
01:54And I sit down. And then, of course, something rather interesting happens.
02:00Then I don't go into what you describe as a trance, but it's something not far from that,
02:07where I'm removed to the scene of what I'm writing about. And the words just come. I don't have to
02:14sit here and say, what's going to happen next? What is he going to say to her, et cetera, et cetera.
02:20The words just come, so probably from some part of the mind, which we call the imagination.
02:27When the muse is with you, but you were saying sometimes you do have to force the muse's hand
02:32a little bit, perhaps.
02:34No, no, don't wait for the muse to arrive. I think that people who wait for the muse to come
02:39and tap them on the shoulder are often in for a disappointment. The muse has got better things
02:47to do. You actually have to sit there and start work, really.
02:54And also, it's not just the fact, of course, that you are so prolific. It's the breadth of what
02:59you write, isn't it? That's one of the astonishing things.
03:02Well, I like writing about different things. I do write series in which we have the same
03:07characters appearing in each book. But I do write about a wide variety of things. And I
03:14find that ideas just come to me. I carry a notebook with me, as I think most authors do. And somebody
03:22may say something which fires my imagination, or I may see something that I feel I need to
03:28report on. And off we go.
03:32And all that, after a distinguished academic career, you were saying that you feel that authors
03:37need that kind of foundation, need to have done something before they start writing. What
03:42did that give you, that medical law career?
03:45Well, I think it's very important that you should go out and experience the world before
03:51you start to write about the world. I think there are some writers who write very profound
03:57and interesting things when they're 21 or whatever. But most of us actually really need to get
04:04a bit of life experience before we write anything of particular interest. So I think, therefore,
04:13it's a very good idea for an author to have a career of some sort, have a job, meet people,
04:20do different things. And that will inform the writing that then takes place. Because what you
04:27need is...
04:28Writing pushes it aside, doesn't it?
04:30Yes. What any author needs is material. And material is gathered by looking at the world,
04:37watching people, but also actually engaging in experience.
04:44Fantastic. Well, really lovely to meet you and to speak to you, Sir Alexander. And lovely
04:48to know that you will be coming to Chichester Cathedral on October the 25th. Thank you ever
04:53so much for your time.
04:54Thank you very much indeed, Phil. Thank you.
04:56Thank you very much.
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