I don't want somebody sucking up to me because they think I am going to help their career. I want them sucking up to me because they genuinely love me.

I don't want somebody sucking up to me because they think I am going to help their career. I want them sucking up to me because they genuinely love me.

OK," Josh said evenly, "I've seen men made of mud, I guess I can accept spying rats. Do they talk?" he wondered aloud. Don't be ridiculous," Flamel snapped, "They're rats." Josh really didn't think it was a ridiculous suggestion.

There really is no difference in the actual writing or plotting. I choose to tell different stories for the younger reader and, of course, I would never put sex and extreme violence in a YA book. But writing for adults and children requires the same care and attention.

Here words can kill - literally.

Negotiations are about controlling things, about being in the driver's seat and make one tiny mistake; you're dead. I made one tiny mistake, I wore women's clothes

A good story is always a journey. It is about taking the journey, the people the hero meets along the way and how they change him or her. All stories are journeys. They don't have to be shocking or outrageous: they simply have to be interesting.