Tell me what inspired you to write about your latest book? After getting great feedback but no publishing deal on an earlier book, I asked my agent what publishers were looking for. She said Middle Grade fantasy was popular and I thought about this, specifically what I could bring to the table that was different. After racking my brains for a while, I realised the answer was obvious: Japanese culture and myth. I’d spent five […]
Where do you find inspiration for your books? It depends on the book, but my inspiration usually comes from some combination of what I’m reading, and where I am (both physically and emotionally) at that point in my life. Lately I’ve found myself going back to a lot of the fantasy classics that I enjoyed when I was younger (Tolkien, Holdstock, Richard Adams). My wife is from Finland, so in […]
Where do you find inspiration for your books? I’m not sure what triggers the initial idea for a story but they do seem to just come to me. I try to read a lot about the world we live in and I think that helps. I’m also a big film fan and have always enjoyed a good story no matter what format it’s in. I think it’s important for a […]
Where do you find inspiration for your books? Mostly from real life. One thing I learnt from being a journalist is that there are extraordinary people living extraordinary lives all around us. My next novel While My Eyes Were Closed centres on the disappearance of a four-year-old girl. My task was to take a scenario we are familiar with from news stories and try to make my story unique and get […]
Where do you find inspiration for your books? Everywhere. I read a lot – books, newspapers, magazines. I watch lots of things – TV series, documentaries, movies. I listen to music, I talk to people, I ask lots of questions and listen to the asnwers, I travel and I sit in different places and watch the world go by. All books, all stories, are about people so it’s people and […]
Where do you find inspiration for your books? I get my inspiration from all kinds of places. With ‘The First Time I Saw Your Face’, I read an article about a journalist who posed as a footman at Buckingham Palace for months and that got me thinking about how much we take people at face value and what would happen if an undercover journalist fell in love with the very […]
Where do you find inspiration for your books? Anywhere! From places and overheard snatches of conversation and people I meet. Inspiration for The Moth Catcher came from a newspaper article, a party I went to about 10 years ago and a student placement in a women’s prison. Do you try and read the online reviews you get on say waterstones website? I read reviews that appear in the national press […]
Tell me what inspired you to write about your latest book? Mind Games began when I read an article that suggested that rationality is as important as intelligence. No matter how intelligent someone is, if they are irrational, they may make poor decisions. And I thought what would happen if, in the future, rationality were prized over intelligence? If someone who is intelligent but irrational is considered dangerous? Who decides […]