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Quote by Ian Rankin

“I still think most writers are just kids who refuse to grow up. We're still playing imaginary games, with our imaginary friends.”

Quote by Ian Rankin

Author

Ian Rankin, born on April 28, 1960, is a renowned Scottish crime writer. His works, set in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, delve into themes of crime, social issues, and the darker aspects of human nature. Rankin's novels are highly appreciated by readers and have won numerous awards in the crime fiction genre. more

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“Right from the very beginning, I knew I wanted to write palpably Scottish fiction.”

Writing Wanted Fiction Scottish

Author:Ian Rankin

“A lot of writers, especially crime writers, have an image that we think we're trying to keep up with. You've got to be seen as dark and slightly dangerous. But I'm not like that and I've realised that I don't need to put that on. People will buy the books whether they see a photo of you dressed in black or not.”

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Author:Ian Rankin

“I am, of course, a frustrated rock star - I'd much rather be a rock star than a writer. Or own a record shop. Still, it's not a bad life, is it? You just sit at a computer and make stuff up.”

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Author:Ian Rankin

“I don't think I have one particular favourite writer. I have many whose works I will always buy or reread - Muriel Spark, Anthony Powell, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ruth Rendell, James Ellroy, William McIlvanney, Kate Atkinson, John Burnside, Louise Welsh, Iain Banks.”

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Author:Ian Rankin

“I used to think that: whenever I heard that someone had taken 10 years to write a novel, I'd think it must be a big, serious book. Now I think, 'No - it took you one year to write, and nine years to sit around eating Kit Kats.”

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Author:Ian Rankin

“I wrote my first short story for a competition and won second prize. Another competition came up and I won first prize. The first story was published in a newspaper. The second went out on radio.”

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Author:Ian Rankin

“But the key to our marriage is the capacity to give each other a break. And to realize that it's not how our similarities work together; it's how our differences work together.”

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“I'm interested in Scotland now and then, how it's changed. I want to get the reader to think about that by thinking about something from the past. How has society changed, how has policing changed, have we changed philosophically, psychologically, culturally, spiritually?”

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Author:Ian Rankin

“I'm often asked how I write books, but I don't think my approach is suitable for everyone. If I walked into a creative writing class, all I could say to them was 'I tend to make it up as I go along.' I'm not sure that's brilliant advice.”

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“I've always written. At the age of six or seven, I would get sheets of A4 paper and fold them in half, cut the edges to make a little eight-page booklet, break it up into squares and put in little stick men with little speech bubbles, and I'd have a spy story, a space story and a football story.”

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Author:Ian Rankin