The Reith Lectures cover image

1. Freedom of Speech

The Reith Lectures

CHAPTER

Writing Fiction, I Do Not Think About Audience

When I'm writing fiction, I do not think about audience. And when I teach fiction to young people, I tell them that as well,. Do not think about anybody because you're going to censor yourself and your story will be false. But at the same time, I don't want to pretend as though I don't know that books are now read differently. So it's no longer just about my uncle reading a sex scene, I'm thinking, how does she know that? It's also that sometimes people then read a character that you've written, and they attribute a character's ideas to you, the writer. And we still do not think that that's a reason not to write

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