Michael Frayn

And for some reason, reading for the first time the sign on the wall next to it, which I never bothered to read before, which said, these three pictures are part of a series that Bruegel did to illustrate the seasons of the year, and one is missing.

And I thought, even as I read the sentence, supposing you thought you'd found the missing Bruegel.

Where would it be?

Well, it would be in the possession of some man who,

didn't understand its value, didn't know much about art.

And if you thought he was unscrupulous and would just sell it for the highest price he could get, regardless of it ending up as financial assets, you might feel you had a moral duty to acquire the picture and then discover it was a Bruegel.

And you might, of course, make a reputation from it, make a bit of money out of it.

Right.

So mixed motives.

Mixed motives are always interesting to explore.

I think it starts with some idea, some feeling that there's a story here before you know what the story is.

And gradually the characters who embody it begin to take on some shape in your mind.

Well, the wonderful thing about writing fiction is that once you've done all the research and the work and got the story going, the characters do seem to take on a life of their own and do, to some considerable extent, write their own story, say their own words and do their own thing.

It's a great help, of course, but it can also get in the way of the plot you've so carefully thought out for them.

I sometimes feel that characters ought to be more respectful of their creators and think, you've brought me into being and given me all this stuff so far.

I should behave myself and follow your ideas for the plot.

The plot always changes as you go along because they do disrupt it.

I like to feel that I've got some ideas...

about how the story's going to develop before I start writing.

Famously, some writers don't.