After I recovered from 'Lioness', I wanted to write something about animals because I really like mythical creatures, especially dragons. At 12, I was one of those semi-recluses who did better with animals than people. Out of that, came the character, Daine, who could communicate with animals.

This may be my only chance to see humans before these two are made into fertilizer for Moonwind's rosebushes.

Never break a promise to an animal. They're like babies—they won't understand.

With each book, in each place, I have to keep an ongoing map as I write because otherwise I don't know where I am.

I don't write from dreams because I don't remember mine, but I had a fragment of an image left about twins, whose father was telling them how their lives were going to go for the next eight years. I wrote a scene about that, and then another and then another and then another, and after five months I had 732 pages.

There are not so many mythical creatures from Inkheart.