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<\/p>\nAuthor Irvine Welsh said it was \u201chorrible\u201d re-reading Trainspotting to make sure its new sequel was accurate \u2013 and admitted fans will still catch him out.<\/p>\n
Welsh, 66, found fame in 1993 thanks to his novel about a group of heroin addicts in 1980s Edinburgh, later adapted into the cult film starring Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle.<\/p>\n
The new sequel, Men in Love, carries on exactly where Trainspotting ended and features the same cast of main characters, but was written over 30 years apart.<\/p>\n
Welsh, who says he forgets his books as soon as he completes them, said that reading previous work was \u201cthe worst thing you can possibly do\u201d.<\/p>\n
He told an audience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival it was necessary to keep the story \u201cconsistent\u201d, but admitted it was impossible to get everything right and he would inevitably miss something.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s horrible, a terrible thing. To read one of your own books is just the worst thing you can possibly do, but you have to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re doing a sequel or a prequel, you have to do it to make all these things work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always somebody that says, \u2018ah but he died in this other book\u2019. Oh my God. You\u2019re never going to catch them all, but you have to do as much as you can to build that kind of consistent narrative throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt\u2019s such a drag because every time you look at one of the older books, you think, God, how did I write that sentence or how did I write that? It\u2019s just this nonsense, so you don\u2019t want to go back, but I had to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welsh returned to his home city to discuss the new book, which sees his characters looking for love.<\/p>\n
Mark Renton, having stolen a bag of money from his friends, is found working in the club scene in Amsterdam and Simon \u201cSick Boy\u201d Williamson is in London. Daniel \u201cSpud\u201d Murphy and Francis Begbie remain in Leith.<\/p>\n
Welsh revealed he has several favourites among his own novels \u2014 but did not include Trainspotting.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI like Glue because it\u2019s a big sprawling epic, and I kind of like Skag Boys, which is basically about how they got into that situation in the first place while Trainspotting is just a deep dive into that murky world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like some of the later books like Dead Men\u2019s Trousers, and I think A Decent Ride is the funniest one and so I\u2019ve got different kinds of fondness for them all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really liked Marabou Stork Nightmares at the time. It\u2019s quite a difficult book to live with \u2014 it\u2019s quite a harsh book in a lot of ways \u2014 and I kind of like Filth as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going to say I like them all, but I kind of do because I wrote them all.\u201d<\/p>\n
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