... He had always rather liked emergencies. Other people's at any rate. They put your own problems into perspective. It was like being on a ferry. You didn't have to think about what you had to do or where you had to go for the next few hours. It was all laid out for you.

... why I like timetables, because they make sure I don't get lost in time.

...and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything

Well, we're meant to be writing stories today.

And Father said, "Christopher, do you understand that I love you?" And I said "Yes," because loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father looks after me when I get into trouble, like coming to the police station, and he looks after me by cooking meals for me, and he always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me.

I think one of the things you have to learn if you're going to create believable characters is never to make generalizations about groups of people.

If one book's done this well, you want to write another one that does just as well. There's that horror of the second novel that doesn't match up.