Stories make you think and dream; books make you want to ask questions.

Anything that gets children reading is fine.

I don't know, but I do think that everyone has a story to tell. The question is, can they find the voice and the confidence to tell it? We lack the encouragement as young people to believe this; we very often think that writing is for clever people, which it isn't.

Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.

You know, I really wish now I'd had the nerve to become an actor. Because I'd have been Robert Redford, no question.

Always write your ideas down however silly or trivial they might seem. Keep a notebook with you at all times.

I don't consciously try to take my readers on a journey as I don't really think about my readers when I'm writing. I just try to write what I feel passionately about, to tell a story down onto the page.