I think the bravest thing to write about is nothing, just to write a book in which nothing happens.

Teenagers are very dark, I think. That's all the goth and emo stuff. They're experiencing a lot of stuff that adults experience, but in a much more raw way. It's that extremity that I'm interested in, to be able to go down so far and come up so quickly.

I'm constantly snatching my books out of the hands of precocious ten-year-olds who are simply too young to read them, despite parents insisting that dear Octavia has a reading age of 28. I remember trying to read 'In Cold Blood' at the age of twelve, and realising that just because you can read book doesn't mean you should.

I heard that chivalry was dead, but I think it's just got a bad flue.

I think I wanted to write a book about the relationship between the victim and perpetrator in which the victim agrees to remain silent.

I think the worst thing you can do about a situation is nothing.