Getting even is one great reason for writing. The precise statement of the motive is tricky, but the clearest expression of my unwholesome nature and my mean motives (apart from trying to write well) appears in a line I like in In the Heart of the Heart of the Country. The character says, I want to rise so high that when I shit I wont miss anybody. But maybe I say its a motive because I like the line. Anyway, my work proceeds almost always from a sense of aggression. And usually I am in my best working mood when I am, on the page, very combative, very hostile. Thats true even when I write to praise, as is often the case.