I loved fantasy, but I particularly loved the stories in which somebody got out of where they were and into somewhere better - as in the Chronicles Of Narnia, The Wizard Of Oz, The Phantom Tollbooth, the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.

As a writer I'm more drawn to villains who are just slightly mad.

There's a special gut-check moment the first time you write a scene in which somebody casts a spell.

You didn’t get the quest you wanted, you got the one you could do.

The danger would be going back, or staying still. The only way out was through. The past was ruins, but the present was still in play.

Book tours are excellent things, and one is lucky to get to go on one, but they have a way of leeching away one's will to live.

Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there's nothing else.