Where are you from?
I was born in Brighton, but during my childhood I lived in Pembrokeshire, a village near Cardiff, Kent and Suffolk, one after another.
Tell us your latest news?
The copy-editing for my third book has just finished, and we’re looking at covers. It looks like the cover will have volcanoes on it…
When and why did you begin writing?
I do not remember ever needing a reason to write. I think I would have needed a reason not to do so. When I wasn’t scribbling down small stories I was making up ‘serial’ style narratives to tell to my sister when we were supposed to be asleep. Luckily I was born into a very pro-book family – even when I was a baby my mother gave me little cloth books to look at.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I always wanted to be a writer. Mind you, I had decided to become an artist as well, a world famous scientist and an international spy. I think astronaut may have been on the list too.
What inspired you to write your first book?
The inspiration for Fly by Night came from a lot of different sources. A lot of the ideas came from a holiday to Romania, where I was fascinated by all the bullet-riddled castles and churches, fortified towns, thick forests and the sense of history, both ancient and recent, hanging all around like gunsmoke. I’m also very interested in the early eighteenth century – I had a lovely time looking through books on the period, taking all the ‘fun bits’ and weaving them together.
I was advised to write a children’s book in the first place by my good friend Rhiannon Lassiter, who has been a published author since her late teens. When I decided that my half-finished book was dreadful, it was Rhiannon who stopped me hiding it in a drawer forever, so I owe her a lot.
Who or what has influenced your writing?
When we lived in Kent, our house was a creeper-covered grey building that sat on the top of a hill and made weird moaning noises when the wind blew. I think this may well have helped stir my interest in the gothic, supernatural and decayed.
In terms of the books I read when I was young, I suspect the writers that influenced me most were Leon Garfield, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper and Nicholas Fisk.
How did you come up with the title……?
Originally “Fly by Night” was going to be called “A Way with Words” but it was felt that that didn’t sound exciting enough. “Fly by Night” was chosen because it has a nice adventurous sound it, because the heroine Mosca is named after a fly, and because at the very start Mosca and her accomplices are running away under cover of darkness – flying by night.
My second book had the working title “Penny’s Worth” but again this was thought to sound a bit tame. We went for “Verdigris Deep” in the end because it’s a sort of tarnish you can get on coppery metals when they’re exposed to water or damp air, a bit like the coins down the well in the book. Verdigris is a very pretty blue-green colour, but really it’s a kind of rot, and this seemed appropriate because the book is about wishes, about things that look wonderful from the outside but aren’t.
What books have most influenced your life most?
That’s a very difficult question, but they would probably include the following:
“The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins
“A Passage to India” by E M Forster
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
I would probably choose my grandfather, Harold Mills West, since I had huge respect for him as a human being as well as an author. Largely self-educated, he managed to get himself into teacher training college, and later whilst working at a country school started writing books as a sideline to earn more money for his family. One of the most selfless, modest, dignified and courageous people I have ever met.
What book are you reading now?
I have just started “Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror” by Chris Priestley, after being given it by a friend.
What are your current projects?
I’m currently writing a sequel to “Fly by Night”, my first book.
Who is your favourite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
Wilkie Collins, partly because I like my geniuses flawed. A consummate storyteller, a master mystery-maker, wildly eccentric, and in many respects very much ahead of his time.
Do you have to travel much concerning your books?
My third book was certainly very much inspired by a year-long trip round the world that I undertook with my boyfriend a few years ago. The fact is, by the time we’d been travelling a few months I’d fallen in love with volcanoes. I’ve now visited quite a few of them in the US, Guatemala, Costa Rica and of course New Zealand. The last time I was in New Zealand for a friend’s wedding I took the opportunity to tramp around on some new volcanoes… for ‘research’.
Who designed the covers?
I only wish I could claim it was me. I’m really lucky in that I’ve loved all the covers designed for my first two books.
The border illustration of the UK hardback of Fly by Night was apparently produced by Atomic Squib. The US hardback of the same book uses an image by Brett Helquist, who did the covers for ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’. The UK paperback combines the Helquist picture with the Atomic Squib border.
The cover for the hardback version of Verdigris Deep is by Peter Ferguson and Tony Fleetwood. The paperback version has a cover by Christopher Gibbs.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Revisions. Research just involves exploring things that interest you. Writing a book the first time is an adventure. Revisions feel like homework.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
My advice, particularly for young and aspiring writers, is to be as stubborn as possible. Everything you write improves your writing, every rejection letter you get is one stop closer to an acceptance. My second piece of advice would be to get feedback on your work – and listen to it. Writers’ circles are very useful for this, because everyone there is in the same boat.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Have fun!
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