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questions and answers
Read on to find out more...
Or click on a number to go to that question:
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1. Your latest book Leaving Poppy
is a ghost story with a difference, and takes your writing
in a new direction. What inspired you to take this route?
I'm seen as an upbeat, positive writer, but I
have a dark side too '– ghosts, witches and vampires
have a real fascination for me. I'm also intrigued by
the emotional manipulation that can go on inside families.
These two meshed in Leaving Poppy ' I hope it's true Teen
Gothic!
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2. Do you believe in ghosts like the
strange ghostly figure in Leaving Poppy? Have you ever
seen one?
I don't believe that the world we see and hear is
all that there is. I don't think there's a solid line
between 'reality' and ….well, other stuff! There
are all sorts of crossings-over. I've never seen a ghost,
but I do think people who die can leave a presence, and
I've certainly sensed things, felt influences … |
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3. Where do you get your ideas from
for your books?
Absolutely everywhere, especially talking to new people
and eavesdropping on trains. Going out for long walks
on my own is great for plotting. |
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4. Why did you want to become a writer?
I've always loved writing. I used to write torrid historical
romances and keep a semi-hysterical diary when I was a
teenager. But I didn't 'want to be a writer' as such,
it kind of happened to me … |
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5. How did your writing career begin?
I was working as a freelance editor on some teenage books
and I hated the way they treated sex. It was either gushy
candyfloss or incredibly depressing. I very bigheadedly
thought I could do better and wrote Diving In. |
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6. What is a typical day for you?
Fight with husband over who makes tea and toast. Start
writing in bed on my laptop trying to shut out guilt-inducing
glares from dog who wants walk. Get up and walk or run
with dog. Come back and have second breakfast, like a
hobbit. Write some more. Knock off about three in the
afternoon. Get domestic stuff ' food, washing, cleaning
- done. Attack my emails ' I love emails from readers!
Then I'll walk the dog again (she's got guilt-inducement
down to an art) and then maybe go out for a meal or a
drink or to see a film. I have lots of sorts of different
friends and it's all great grist to the writing mill …
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7. What advice would you give to want-to-be-authors?
Get out and live life - no one ever wrote anything
good stuck up in an ivory tower. Write what you feel passionately
about, what excites you. Always go back the next day to
work on what you've written - it's just been scientifically
proved that your brain mulls over stuff you've been working
on as you sleep. Brilliant. Soon we'll be writing
when we're asleep …sometimes it feels like that
now …
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8. Which of your own books do you like best and why?
I really like Leaving Poppy, I loved writing scarily!
But then I think writers often like the book they've just
finished best. I'm also very fond of the Moving
Out series because I loved being inside the head of this
sarcastic, bolshy male character. In the Deep End is very
intimate and personal to me.
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9. How long does it take to write your books?
I seem to have fallen into a satisfying pattern of
producing a book a year. The actual writing, of course,
takes nowhere near that long. Let's face it, my life's
a doddle.
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10. Who was your favourite author/illustrator when
you were a child and what is your favourite children's
book?
I absolutely loved The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I
wanted there to be Borrowers so badly ' I used to search
for signs of them. Probably my all-time favourite is Carbonel,
by Barbara Sleigh, about a quest to free a witch's cat
from thralldom. As a teenager I loved Catcher in the Rye
(except I wanted to know more about the hero's love life),
Wuthering Heights, and the Claudine books by Colette.
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11. Did you like school and what was your favourite
subject?
Sometimes I liked school, sometimes I loathed it.
I made some great friends that I've kept. (Hi, Jilly!
Email me, Diane, you loafer!) I got fed up with it being
Girls Only by the time I got to the sixth form though.
Beyond a doubt my favourite subject was English. I was
rubbish at just about everything else, especially maths.
I loved escaping into books ' still do.
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12. What books do you enjoy reading?
I adore Sherlock Holmes …I want his study!
I love the Brontes, and Doris Lessing. But I tend to avoid
fiction when I'm in the throes of writing because I don't
want other people's characters filling up my head. I've
got into history recently …even politics.
I'm still trying to educate myself about the world. But
when I finish writing a book I'll gorge on all the latest
novels. Can't wait! |
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