I think this is a weakness I’ve overcome, or at least gotten firmly under control. The one piece of advice I’d give to all mediocre—and not so mediocre—writers, and one I impose on myself, is an exercise in self-criticism. Self-criticism gives you something of inestimable value: calmness, knowing how to wait. And I waited (I’ve been waiting now for more than forty years). One of the other positive aspects of self-criticism is that it makes the inevitable disappointment more bearable.

Given that I can’t, and that I’m too lazy to research the Turkish War, Fonk’s trial, and Goethe, I’ll look for subjects and characters closer to home. This might be a good start: “I was born in the early 1950s, a terrible period for the people of Spain, but a glorious time for cinema and fashion.”