'I'm very suggestible; I become my characters ? and as my books are all in the presence of death, it can be difficult'
What got you started?
Anger. I was unemployed, and had just spent a day feeling overwhelmingly disenchanted. In anger, I wrote a sentence and then a paragraph and then a page. And then I just kept going.
What was your big breakthrough?
The mind and person and spirit of the literary agent Clare Conville. I found her after 12 rejections, and she absolutely understood what I was trying to do.
Which writers do you most admire?
Gore Vidal ? he was my first exposure to free-form writing. And Thomas Mann, for the utter and absolute beauty of his writing.
What's the greatest threat to literature?
Profit. Markets pull away from quality and head for the quick, easy and low. As more people are interested in Katie Price than Ernest Hemingway, the market will naturally exponentiate in her direction.
What's the biggest myth about writing?
That it's long and solitary and maddening. But that's also true.
Do you care about fame?
No. It's a bit uncomfortable, but I'm not Britney Spears.
What's the best advice you ever had?
My agent told me that once I was published, voices were going to come from every direction. "It isn't going to be easy," she said, "but you have to ignore everyone ? even me."
Is there anything about your career you regret?
Listening to people.
What's the worst thing anyone ever said about you?
That I was an American author. It's a not uncommon assumption with reference to Vernon God Little [about a high-school shooting in Texas]. But it completely obliterates the reason behind the book ? it's not trying to be an American novel, it's about us thinking about America.
What art work would you like to own?
The London Symphony Orchestra. The highest expression of art in humankind is the performance by 55 or more people of a symphonic work.
Do you suffer for your art?
Yes, but that's my fault. I'm very suggestible; I become my characters, and because the three things I've written are all in the presence of death, it can be difficult.
What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?
One of Benjamin Britten's Diversions for piano played with the left hand alone. Like me, it's music that wants to fly, but can't.
In Short
Born: Reynella, Australia; 1961.
Career: Has published three novels. An adaptation of his first, Vernon God Little, is at the Young Vic, London, 27 January to 5 March.
High point: "Sitting with the composer Colin Matthews, drinking 50-year-old whisky from a glass once owned by Gustav Holst."
Low point: "Realising halfway through my last book that I was beginning to share my main character's despair."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/jan/17/dbc-pierre-writer-portrait
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