Time & Perspective Quote by Iain Banks

Writing, Banks reminds us, is the ultimate do-over button: not in the cheap sense of fixing typos, but in the deeper fantasy of revising lived experience. The line starts with “play,” a word that makes authorship sound less like a solemn calling and more like a private sandbox. That’s Banks tipping his hand about intent: he’s defending fiction as an arena of freedom, where imagination isn’t escapism so much as agency.

“Alter time” is the hinge. It’s not just about nonlinear plots or time travel (though Banks, with his science fiction chops, knew those tools well). It’s about the emotional temporality of regret. Real life gives you one take; writing gives you drafts. You can slow down a moment you didn’t understand when it happened, rewind to find the motive you missed, or fast-forward to show consequences that reality hides until it’s too late. That’s the subtext: narrative is control, and control is comfort.

Then he lands on the most human part: the “smart lines and clever comebacks” you wish you’d said. That’s the familiar post-conversation autopsy, the staircase wit. Banks reframes that small humiliation as fuel. The writer isn’t necessarily wiser than everyone else; he’s just granted the luxury of revision and timing. The cultural context here is the demystification of the author-genius: the craft isn’t constant inspiration, it’s the privilege of arranging reality so it finally sounds as good as you wanted it to feel.