I've lived in Seattle for about six years, and find that my writing day used to be a lot more rigid than it is now. America being a 24-hour day, seven-day society, and with everything available at all times, I find that my old routine of 9-5 has shifted. Now, I tend to write more or less when the mood takes me, rather than to a timetable.
It takes me about a year to write a book. After that, you're worrying the thing to death. I get fed up with my books at a certain stage - I don't think they would be twice as good if I spent twice as long at them. I used to think that writing was one of those things that the longer you did it, the easier it became, but I'm changing my mind on that.
My wife and I have a total of five children between us. We don't have any of them together, but we do have this potentially enormous family running around. So when the house next door came up for sale, we bought it. We use that house for writing and running round in; I have my workroom in there. We didn't knock walls through; there's still a separate entrance, so it feels like you're going to work.
Both houses are a tip. I'm a terrible slob and really untidy, but my workroom is kept in order. I don't put anything on the walls, nothing like that - it's very bare and very tidy. It's a virtual space, really, because when I'm writing the book, I'm not in this room at all, I'm wherever the book is.
I have a lot of friends who are writers who have houses with wonderful views, but none of them have desks overlooking those views, for the same reason; they don't want to remember where they are when they look out the window, they want to be where their book is set.
People always ask me about how I research my crime novels. It sounds odd, but I write the book first and add the research later. You don't really know when you start the book what you'll need to know as you go along; it's only as the book develops and the plot expands that it becomes clear. So afterwards, I go back and research all the technical details - like, if one of my characters works in an engineering factory, I'll follow it up then.
I lived in Italy for five years, and I still go back there, where a lot of my books are set. That way I can get a sense of what the place looks like, and what it smells like. My most recent book was set in Sicily, so I went there as part of the research. I've made the acquaintance of some policemen there, which has been very important.
The Mafia is such a moving target that it's hard to keep up with it. For instance, the clans that were really big in the early and mid 1990s are all dead now. The police bring me up to date on what it's like now. Once the police realise you're not an undercover journalist, but a harmless novelist and a bit simple, they're really very helpful.
Michael Dibdin's latest book is Blood Rain, published by Faber and Faber at £16.99 in UK
