What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered about having a book published?
How involved readers become with my characters. I’ve had many emails and letters asking me what happens to them after the book ends; so much so, that occasionally I bring one of them back in a subsequent book in a cameo role. What’s your typical writing day like? And what environment is most conducive to your process? I have three children, so I write for six or seven hours straight when they’re at school. But I usually write plot outlines late at night, once they’re in bed, because that seems to be when my brain is firing most imaginatively. I have to have a clear, uncluttered desk, and I drink tea by the gallon when I’m writing—must be my English genes! Can you name the first book you read that inspired you in some special way? Why? When I was six, I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis. I adored it, and spent many happy but frustrating hours trying to climb into the back of a wardrobe. I knew then I wanted to create a whole different world like that myself one day.
