I looked at the stories and began to notice they were all answers to the question: Why do things happen? What if one thing happens in one story that makes the next story possible? This is life, this is reality. I thought, how can I turn these things into a novel? Well, sometimes a theme can be your glue. These random thoughts began to coagulate into stories. I took half a year off work and went on the Trans Siberian Railway. One of the agents sent a note back, “This perhaps isn’t the thing, but let me see the next thing you write.” That was very encouraging. I sent an appalling novel, the first three chapters and the plot synopsis-this is pre-Internet of course, it cost a fortune-to fifteen agents and five publishers in London. It was in back of my head: You’ll probably be a writer. I found myself in Japan teaching English, and had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I wanted to do to other people what my favorite authors had done to me. What was the journey to your first publication?ĭavid Mitchell: I was in my mid-twenties and daydreamed of being a writer. He recently spoke with the novelist Irina Reyn, as well as students in the University of Pittsburgh’s Writing Program. Mitchell’s previous books include Cloud Atlas, Bone Clocks, and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. David Mitchell’s new novel Slade House, was just published by Random House.
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