Val McDermid: ‘Left to our own devices, writers adopt the habits of a hermit crab’

The crime writer on bingeing on West Wing, taking time out on computer games and the joys of first-class train travel

Illustration by Alan Vest

When I first became a full-time writer, I mostly had writing days. People seldom wanted to listen to me read, consult my opinion or watch me perform. But the combination of success and the proliferation of literary festivals and media platforms has profoundly altered the even tenor of my mostly isolated days.

That’s probably a benefit; the observation and the company of others is, after all, what provides a writer with raw material. Left to our own devices, we’ve got a tendency to adopt the habits of a hermit crab.

I tend to write in 20‑minute bursts. That seems to be the length of my concentration span

Now I try to carve out a chunk of the year when the other calls on my time are kept to a minimum. Three or four months when I can more or less stay at home and write. January, February, March and, when I can get away with it, into April. When the weather is at its most miserable and I mind being indoors least. But my life is complicated, so even then I spend the equivalent of one of most people’s working days on trains each week.

Read the full article on The Guardian website…