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How long does it take you to write a book?
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| Each book is different – some books need less research than others, or the plot is complicated and requires a lot of thought. But once I’ve started, I write a little bit every day and will carry on like that for about four months or so. But then there’s the editing, and the proof reading .... |
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Which is your favourite book of the ones you have written?
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| The one I’m working on now and the one that’s just come out! But basically, I’m fond of all of my books, otherwise I wouldn’t have written them. |
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Is there any of you in your characters?
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| There has to be- no one can invent from nothing. My raw material for my characters is my emotions, and thoughts in various situations I’ve been in. But the things that happen in my novels have never happened to me – I never dropped out of school, joined a cult, committed crimes or was chased in my dreams by a man who was out to get me ... hold on ... I was! In fact Hannah – in The Dream Travellers – is the closest of all my characters to me – as I was when I was 12. Her nightmares are mine. And no, I don’t have them any more! |
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Why do you write for teenagers?
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| I started as a writer with books that were aimed primarily at adults, but I was commissioned to write for teenagers and found I enjoyed that more. Teenagers as characters are more fresh, more interesting, more likely to do crazy things – and inside I think of myself as only 17. |
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How much do you get paid?
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| Not as much as you probably think! Writers get more fame than money. All in all, with all the different sources of income open to writers, I probably earn as much as I would have done if I’d stayed as an ordinary English teacher, which is what I was before I started writing. |
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Have you ever met J K Rowling?
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| No, but if she’s reading this and would like to pop round for tea, I’d be delighted! |
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