Chris Cleave

I think, in common with a lot of novelists, I wasn't the most athletic guy at school. ”

There's what people say, and there's what people mean, and I like to explore the difference between the two. ”

This thing with being lovers, it isn't like being married. ”

I'm a much better writer for being a father. ”

Studying psychology is fun because you're always looking for the same things I think a writer should be looking for, which is the story behind the story. ”

The reason why I love people, and writing about them, is because they don't always respond with hate and anger. If they did I wouldn't have a story to tell. Who wants to know about someone who was brutalised and became brutal? I'm interested in the exceptions. ”

I like to push characters to extremes so they have to make really tough decisions and there is no life more extreme than that of an athlete. ”

My whole life is my work. ”

I think that the relationship between two top-level athletes who are rivals is one of the most fascinating human relationships to explore. It's always one atom away from being a tragedy. ”

It's extremely hard for athletes to accept what's happened to them sometimes. It's hard to be beaten by a small margin, and I've spoken with athletes who, for years afterward, have been tormented by the knowledge that, had they done something ever so slightly different, they could have been one-ten-thousandth of a second quicker. ”