My father was a screenwriter, but he was also a novelist.

I try not to picture a reader when I'm writing. It's like trying to make a great table but not picturing anybody sitting at it.

When I'm writing, I spend all my time in The Grocer on Elgin buying ready-made meals; I think they are the only reason my husband and kids haven't left me.

My favourite author as a child and teenager, and who I still re-read now, is K. M. Peyton. She writes very truthfully; sometimes I'm not sure if I've actually done things or just experienced them in her books.

There was a sudden stillness like the gap between ticks on a clock, but the next tick never coming.

He was like a damaged bird. And they always die, she thought.