I read a lot of fantasy. I adored 'Anne of Green Gables'. But my favourite books as a child were probably Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Little House' series, about a pioneer family in the mid-19th-century American west. I often thought of them as I was writing 'The Last Runaway'.

Don't write about what you know - write about what you're interested in. Don't write about yourself - you aren't as interesting as you think.

I try to write 1,000 words a day - about three pages. When I reach 1,000 words I feel good. Less than that: a failure. More than that: tired.

I had walked along that street all my life, but had never been so aware that my back was to my home

I find that when I come out of the library I'm in what I call the library bliss of being totally taken away from the distractions of life.

It's a rare book that wins the battle against drooping eyelids.

I have spent my life waiting for something to happen,’ she said. ‘And I have come to understand that nothing will. Or it already has, and I blinked during that moment and it's gone. I don't know which is worse — to have missed it or to know there is nothing to miss.’ Falling Angels