It's a dead give away of an inexperienced writer if every character speaks with the same voice.
Colleen McCullough

There is no doubt that it is more difficult to read and more difficult to write but I still manage.
Colleen McCullough

In The Touch, the love scenes are the same as they were in The Thorn Birds or anything else I've ever written. I find a way of saying that either it was heaven or hell but in a way that still leaves room for the reader to use their own imagination.
Colleen McCullough

It's a woman's book but I think the men will read it too.
Colleen McCullough

Once I've got the first draft down on paper then I do five or six more drafts, the last two of which will be polishing drafts. The ones in between will flesh out the characters and maybe I'll check my research.
Colleen McCullough

My fictitious characters will take the bit between their teeth and gallop off and do something that I hadn't counted on. However, I always insist on dragging them back to the straight and narrow.
Colleen McCullough

I stopped this one about two months before federation and I want the next one to be more political. It will deal with the formation of white Australian policy and things like that.
Colleen McCullough

I am writing a sequel to The Touch because I want to further explore the Chinese question that I have raised. There will be more about that in a sequel.
Colleen McCullough