That novel's theme of encountering time past in time present left a lasting impression, as did American historian Barbara Tuchman's great work, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, which gives the 1300s the proximate and convulsive feel of the 20th century. The impact of war, plague and famine on the fortunes of a French knight and his family is the novel-like organising principle behind her vast tapestry.

Stephen King's eye for the ordinary helps to make the horror in his stories all the more unnerving. When Salem's Lot came out in the mid-'70s it was not only the best vampire novel since Dracula, but the evil it depicts taking root in the humdrum town seems to taint the very pages of the book. King also has a great knack with names: that of the (un)dead schoolboy Danny Glick is as memorable as his grisly visitation outside his buddy's bedroom window.

Writers should, of course, provide their own descriptions of the world in preference to reaching for the pre-packaged metaphor or simile (though sometimes you just run out of the fresh stuff).

Jotting down nature and weather notes is something I was inspired to do by reading excerpts of Gerard Manley Hopkins' notebooks. It consoles me when I see how much effort he put into getting it right and to realise that even the greatest of writers sometimes have to coax their images onto the page.