Word count: 14,397

In 1921 Pirandello wrote a play entitled ‘Six Characters in Search of a Plot.’  My characters have run away from me slightly today so I’ll take the liberty of quoting a favourite line: ‘When the characters are really alive before their authour, the latter does nothing but follow them in their action, in their words, in the situations which they suggest to him.’

I’ll also take heart from Somerset Maugham, who said that there are just three rules for writing – but no one knows what they are.