There's a lot of things you can put up with, as long as you're not related to them.

I, personally, have found reading a continual support to writing.

Writing for young children I find I often use particular jokes with words and exaggerated, funny events, but some of these haunt the more complex stories for older children too.

There's a lot of things you can put up with, as long as you're not related to them.

New Zealand is the only country I know well enough to write about. It can sometimes lead to complications.

At the same time, I think books create a sort of network in the reader's mind, with one book reinforcing another. Some books form relationships. Other books stand in opposition. No two writers or readers have the same pattern of interaction.

Anyone interested in the world generally can't help being interested in young adult culture - in the music, the bands, the books, the fashions, and the way in which the young adult community develops its own language.