Red Széll

And it's to put in things that we as readers can recognise, can grasp hold of.

Whether that's sensations, feelings, smells...

or specific details.

So if I'm reading a book about London, you know, it helps if somebody says, Big Ben was chiming in the background and he could see over the river to Southwark Cathedral.

And it's something that immediately, oh, right, okay, I've got my reference points in this book, either physical or visual, what a concrete, but they help immerse me.

They help me feel that I am part of this story.

Bad writing will always jolt you out of that emotion and you'll just go, oh, that feels uncomfortable.

And then you start thinking about the author rather than the characters of the story.

And, you know, this is not to say that things have to be simplified.

You can still be reading something which is actually very complex, but you feel that you're in safe hands because it is being read.

deliberately and intentionally explained to you in a way that feels comfortable.

Sometimes I equate it to being back in... I used to love history lessons at school because we had a fantastic history teacher who could actually make you believe that you were part of the Peasants' Revolt or that you were a Catholic living under...

Henry VIII's rule and what would you do and how scared would you be?

And when you're transported into that story, even though you're learning something very complex, possibly very alien to you, you know, I've never worn woad or a codpiece.

But it's kind of, you do feel, as you say, in safe hands.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

The kind of the old authorial voice.

And, you know, every so often I'll interview an author like that and I'll just think, you know, well, you must have studied English or, you know, had a classical education of some description.

I think some people are just great listeners.

And I think that's what