I'll be starting work on a new one v. shortly. Not HHGG or Dirk. New.

Up to a point. I think that if my last name had been a bit shorter still I might have done quite a lot better still.

Accidentally. I started out as a scriptwriter for radio and TV. I originally wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as a radio series. A publisher heard it and commissioned me to write it up as a novel. This is not the normal route!

First of all, realise that it's very hard, and that writing is a gruelling and lonely business and, unless you are extremely lucky, badly paid as well. You had better really, really, really want to do it. Next you have to write something. Unless you are committed to novel writing exclusively, I suggest that you start out writing for radio. It's still a *relatively* easy medium to get into because it pays so badly. But it is a great medium for writers because it relies so much on the imagination. You will learn a tremendous amount from it, and maybe get some useful exposure.

A determination to keep at it.

Editing. Cut and cut and cut and cut. Books have tended to get fatter and fatter over recent years as a direct result of creative writing courses. How many millions of trees have been lost because of excessive use of adjectives? If we had creative editing courses instead we'd have better books and better forests. Read Evelyn Waugh for examples of how writing can be both very spare and very rich. A Handful of Dust, Vile Bodies, Scoop.