Colm Tóibín

She said, don't ever come back into this shop.

To be completely fooled into thinking this woman was ready to buy an enormous amount.

And Harriet got married in Rome.

She was in her 40s and she didn't want to get married in the cathedral.

It was too public.

But she bought a most beautiful white dress.

And it was 1968, I think, which meant that it was just slightly above her knee, which no one would do now.

It was obviously at the time, but I remember she had it made and there was a great deal of discussion about it.

She had to have it all, you know, put into lovely paper and, you know, before it was packed, before she went off to Rome to get married.

Oh, I've never done that, no, no.

Yeah, that the reader has to sort of...

If you describe someone as small or tall or gray, yeah, but you've got to be careful not to overdo that because also no matter what you do, the reader fails to imagine.

You could say someone had full lips and slightly pointed nose and dark eyes and thick eyebrows, but it wouldn't really give you a face.

It would just give you a description of a face.

So that's the opposite of what writing should be.

And it's no use.

Yes, and also get a sense of their affect.

What it means for them to come into a room.

And describing someone's, you know, even their posture.

I just, I've never been convinced by it.