When were you born? 

I was born in January 1983 in a county in the north west of England called Cumbria.

Where do you live? 

I live in a county in the south east of England called Kent, about half an hour on the train from London. There are lots of families here and a really friendly local community, so I’m very lucky.

What made you want to be an author?

As a child I loved writing stories in school, and I used to make up bedtime stories for my little sister (who is 6 years younger than me) about the inflatable tiger that we used to take on holiday so we could float about in swimming pools – we named her Tina Tiger and she had lots of adventures. 

I didn’t really think I could ever be a writer for my job, that felt like a dream rather than a proper plan – a bit like deciding to try to win the lottery. So I got a sensible job as a lawyer. Being a lawyer meant a lot of writing, but although the people were lovely, most of it was quite boring. So I decided I would treat writing like any other hobby and just give it a go, without worrying about whether my stories were any good or not. I just wrote the kind of books that I would like to read and had fun creating characters and sending them on adventures. 

I loved it so much that I started taking courses to learn how to become a better writer, and I met lots of other people who love books just as much as I do. We helped each other by reading one another’s work and suggesting ideas for how to improve our writing, just like you do in the classroom. In the end I loved writing for kids so much that I decided to stop being a lawyer and spend part of my week writing and part of my week working in a primary school. I enjoy both my jobs and I’m very lucky to have fun doing something that I love every single day!

What was the inspiration for your book?

The first thing I came up with was my main character, Alex. I loved the idea of writing about a normal kid who gets turned into a vampire, but still has to go to school and do homework and try to be normal. I enjoyed imagining that there could be a secret world all around us, that all the creatures from mythology could be real, but that we don’t know they’re there. 

As a kid I was fascinated by who might be lurking next door. I was lucky enough that when I was at primary school, our neighbours were really fun kids who were our age. But one of the people whose houses overlooked our school playground was a bit grumpy, so I used to imagine all sorts of scary things might be happening, just on the other side of the fence. I also used to cycle past a house that I was convinced was haunted. It was empty, so I used to tell stories about the spooky people who lived there. Soon my friends and I had to race past because we were so frightened of what might lie in wait within. When I grew up, I ended up buying that house! Sadly, no sign of any ghosts or monsters yet – I’ll keep you posted – but the important thing if you love writing is to enjoy using your imagination, to think ‘what if’ and let your mind wander.

My favourite books always have memorable characters and my favourites are those who start out scary or mean, but end up revealing kind hearts underneath. Stories with friendships that are accepting and supportive always make my hear soar, so I wanted my book to have a lot of heart. I’ve always loved big epic adventures, with lots of exciting things happening and kids dealing with danger, so I wanted to write an exciting plot that made people want to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next. I also love fun books; books that make reading feel like a treat instead of something that’s good for you. I wanted my book to be interesting to look at so I’m very lucky that the team at Macmillan and my fantastic illustrator, Katie Kear have made that dream come true! 

How old were you when you started writing?

I’ve always enjoyed story telling, and I loved creative writing at school, but I started writing novels as a grown up when I was 34. The important thing to remember is that anyone can be a writer, of any age. The important thing is to give it a go – even if that piece of writing isn’t great, you still learn from doing it and the next one will hopefully be better.

What’s your favourite book?

That’s such a tricky question! I have so many different kinds of favourites. 

When I was at primary school, I’d probably have answered The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. I’ve read it loads of times since then and my beloved copy is falling apart. I loved the idea of shy, cozy little hobbits setting out to save the whole world from darkness. 

My current favourite children’s book is Elle McNicoll’s A Kind of Spark – it’s an amazing book and I keep buying copies and giving them away because I really want kids to read it!

My favourite book for adults is Priory of the Orange Tree, which is a gorgeous book by Samantha Shannon that is beautiful and magical, and has plenty of dragons. 

Where do you write your books?

I like to write at an old-fashioned desk with a green leather top in my dining room. It’s surrounded by bookshelves full of amazing children’s books, with pictures on the wall of my favourite Doctor Who characters and a few scattered dragons to guard it. I mostly write on a Chromebook, though I do sometimes make notes in a spiral bound pad that I keep nearby in case I have any ideas I need to remember for later.

Do you have a pet?

Yes – I have a fluffy little white cavapoo who is called Arya (she’s named after a really cool elf princess in a book about dragons called Eragon by Christopher Paolini). She loves long walks with her best friend, a scruffy terrier called Lyra (who’s named after a really cool character from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials), finding good sticks, playing fetch and cuddles. 

Where did you go to school?

My parents moved around a lot when I was a kid, so I went to quite a few schools. I started out at a school in Lancashire, then we moved down to Hampshire. After a short stint in Devon, my parents moved to Kent, where I finished primary school and started secondary school. I moved to a school in the Hague when my Dad got a job in the Netherlands, then I went off to boarding school so that I wouldn’t have to keep moving about when I got closer to my exam years as a teenager.

What’s your favourite part about writing books?

I love all of it! When you’ve got a brilliant idea and the words are flowing out of you, it feels like a kind of magic. Making something completely new is so exciting, and when I’m writing a first draft, I often can’t wait to sit at my desk and get stuck in. 

Another huge part of writing is editing. Your teachers aren’t lying to you about how important it is to edit your work – that’s how you take those amazing ideas and polish them into something that really gleams. It’s a lot of work and it can be hard to change something that you were really proud of or a sentence that took you ages, but if you put in the work to make every sentence the best it can be, it’s all worthwhile when you read your story back. 

Writing can be a bit solitary, but another thing I really love is sharing my work with other writers so we can help each other out with our editing. People who write children’s books are really kind and it’s great to have friends who love books as much as I do! 

But I think the thing I’m most excited about is seeing my book being read and enjoyed by kids – afterall, that’s what it’s for.  

What’s the hardest thing about writing books?

It takes a very long time to write a book, and even longer to edit it! It’s totally worth it, but it is a lot of hard work, even though I enjoy it.