CHARACTER QUIZ: THE EPIC EDITION

Hi, Dear Readers - and happy Tuesday to you all. At least, I hope it's a happy Tuesday for you guys. Personally I'm reeling from some not-very-nice news right now, so I extend my deepest sympathies to anyone else having a bad week. Don't worry, it's not anything fatal - and maybe I'll find a way to talk about it in the weeks to come - but for the moment, I'm going to skip any attempts at cheery banter, and just offer up the fruits of my labour instead: the promised Epic Character Quiz, which contains all ten of the main characters from all my published books.

Now, I tend to think of and refer to certain characters *other* than the viewpoint characters and their love interests as main characters, too, such as Akira from Shadows on the Moon and Arian in FrostFire. But those guys are not in the quiz. Not through lack of love on my part. Just because by the time I'd written the detailed character profiles for half my viewpoint and love interest characters, I'd already started to lose the will to live, and so it seemed wisest to accept my limitations and keep things simple. I had NO IDEA how much work went into these things, kids. It's exhausting.

There's such a wide variety of people in my books that I hope this might be interesting even for people who haven't read of them, so feel free to share on Facebook or whatever. Enjoy it, my lovelies.

THE EPIC QUIZ: Which of my Characters are You?

Ever wondered what kind of hero you'd make if you found yourself within the pages of your favourite YA novel? Well, now you can answer a variety of cunning and insightful questions to find out! Which main character from my books do you most resemble, and why? Featuring the main characters from all my published novels.

Alexandra

Book: The Swan Kingdom

You are sensitive, compassionate, and overwhelmingly empathetic. You take comfort and strength from being close to nature - you love animals and green places. Although life is not always kind to someone as open and intensely nurturing as you, you still try to help others whenever and however you can: making the world a better place is as natural to you as breathing.

Unfortunately you have a tendency to listen to the bad things people say about you and forget the good, and be hard on yourself in all the wrong ways. At times you might believe that your kindness makes you weak, that all you're good for is taking care of and supporting other people, that you're not capable of great things in your own right. Don't let fear hold you back from reaching your full potential - you will never know how strong and brave you are unless you are willing to take a chance now and again.

Strengths: natural healing ability and connection to nature - birds literally sing everytime you are near

Weaknesses: fear and insecurity

Weapon of choice: being so lovable you force people to behave well. Also, magic.

Big Secret: You can talk to animals

Gabriel

Book: The Swan Kingdom

You are ambitious, focused and goal orientated - you love animals and wild places, and have a soft spot for people in distress. Once you set your mind on a task no one will ever convince you to divert from it, and you'd carve your own heart out rather than break a promise. This single-mindedness can be a strength, but on other occasions it might lead you to take seemingly crazy risks or be a little oblivious to danger or other people's well-founded concerns.

Knowing what you want is a good thing - just don't ignore everything else in your quest to achieve it. You're good at a lot of things. Don't take that for granted. Enjoy life and make room for new ideas and new people as well. Everyone will be happier for it.

Strengths: determination and devotion to people and ideals

Weaknesses: pigheadedness and insensitivity

Weapon of choice: a pack of highly trained hunting dogs

Big Secret: You cry over puppies, don't even deny it

Zahira

Book: Daughter of the Flames

You are charismatic, resourceful and courageous. Where you lead, other people can't help but follow - you believe so passionately in what is right that you almost glow with it, and that is a powerful thing. But with great power comes great responsibility, and although being a leader comes naturally to you, you don't always love it, especially when it comes with making tough decisions which don't actually fit in with that same powerful sense of right and wrong. Don't let others pile too much on your shoulders - they might think that you're strong enough to carry anything, and you might think it's your job, but remember: you're human. And you are not to blame for the results of choices that were forced on you, or which you didn't even make.

Take the people that you trust into your confidence. Let them see your worry, your doubts, and your tiredness. They won't respect you any less, and you won't be letting them down. They will only love you more, and you never know, they might even be able to help.

Strengths: natural leadership and badassery

Weaknesses: overdeveloped sense of responsibility

Weapon of choice: a double-edged broadsword

Big Secret: Beautiful music moves you to tears

Sorin

Book: Daughter of the Flames

You are mature, thoughtful and ambitious - but your plans are always tempered with a strong sense of morality and caution. You think three steps ahead of everyone else and sometimes your mental processes are a complete mystery, even to those closest to you. You've suffered some great losses in your life, and it has left you with a determination to look out for others, to organise and care for them, and prevent them from having to endure the same things you have. But sometimes in your efforts to keep things safely under control you hide your feelings a bit too well, and come across as cynical, manipulative, or even desperate for power.

Nevertheless, those that know you also know that anyone in need can rely on you to offer not only genuine help but true kindness, and that your intentions are always good. You don't have to be ashamed of your driven personality, but also don't be afraid to allow your vulnerabilities and humanity to shine through as well.

Strengths: cunning and sharp intelligence

Weaknesses: finding it difficult to open up emotionally

Weapon of choice: words, but a razor-sharp blade hidden a cane works too

Big Secret: you melt the second anyone plays with your hair

Otieno

Book: Shadows on the Moon

You are sensitive, romantic and optimistic. You love books and learning, but you're equally at home outdoors. You occasionally give the impression of being a large, naive puppy who heedlessly gallops around trying to make friends with everyone whether they like it or not, and it's true that you always seek the best in people and situations, and have a pure and natural joy in life - but you're also highly intelligent, with a quality of piercing insight that allows you to see through the illusions and lies others cloak themselves in, when you pay attention. Your optimism springs not from ignorance, but from a choice to seek out happiness in whatever way you can.

Remember, though, that not everyone can be the same as you. Your task in life isn't to wipe out other people's scars or to convert them to your way of seeing things. Value other people's caution, shrewdness and wisdom instead of dismissing them, and instead of trying to heal their scars, except that their pain makes them who they are and learn to see the beauty in their darkness. By doing so, you may teach them to do the same, which will make them love you all the more.

Strengths: endless faith in others which helps them be the best they can be

Weaknesses: obliviousness

Weapon of choice: you're equally at home holding a pen or a longbow

Big Secret: you write love poetry, and you're actually really good at it

Suzume

Book: Shadows on the Moon

You are passionate, creative and strong-willed - the kind of unforgettable personality whose magnetism will change all those around you in one way or another. The problem with being such a striking and fascinating person, though, is that many will react to you as an object that they seek either to possess or destroy through jealousy. At times it might seem that the world is filled with random cruelty, or even that something about you provokes it. You may have internalised this message more than you realise, and have begun to believe you deserve to be unhappy.

Let go of the past. Don't let other people's jealousy, cruelty or hardness mar your faith in the inherent goodness of humanity, or lure you away from the unique and brilliant creative path you instinctively seek. You are not to blame for other people's actions, and you don't owe anyone anything. Be yourself. Yourself is good enough for the world and for the people who know and value you for who you truly are.

Strengths: a chameleon-like ability to adapt to almost any situation

Weaknesses: sometimes you lose yourself in trying to be what others want you to be

Weapon of choice: illusions, clever words, and shadows. Also, magic.

Big Secret: love poems reduce your knees to jelly

Luca

Book: FrostFire

You are idealistic, courageous and a born leader - just being around you brings out the best in others, and people naturally seek to bask in your sunny presence. You would fling yourself head first into a fire to help anyone, even a stranger or someone you had reason to dislike - but usually your efforts to inspire and help others are far more rational than that, informed by a shrewd tactical mind and natural observation which makes your idealism all the more beautiful. You have the power to change minds, hearts, and lives, just by being you.

Which such an extreme personality as yours, though, there may be times when those close to you feel as if they're dealing less with an equal and more someone sitting on pedestal above them. Listen when people try to tell you about their feelings, instead of instantly attempting to reassure them or dismiss or persuade them away from their doubts. Sometimes, much as you don't want to admit it, their doubts may have merit - you're smart enough to realise that, and to offer real help. Make yourself into the welcoming pair of arms that you can be, instead of a wall that lesser people bounce off.

Strengths: bravery and badassery

Weaknesses: you think you can make the whole world agree with you. You can't.

Weapon of Choice: if it has a pointy bit, you can fight with it

Big Secret: You get scared too, even if no one sees it

Frost

Book: FrostFire

You are compassionate, empathetic and forceful, especially during a crisis, when you will be rock steady, doing whatever needs to be done, even while your insides are turning to jelly. You've been through hard times, and it's made you wary and even cynical about others sometimes, but it's never made you cold. Though you maintain a stolid exterior, it doesn't take much - nothing more than a simple and sincere offer of friendship - to expose the true sweetness of your nature.

You sometimes act as if you're waiting for something, perhaps some form of external validation, to truly relax and start to live your life to the full. But the only form of recognition that really matters is your own. You have to realise that no matter what has happened in the past, life is yours for the taking now, and that there are people around you who deserve your full trust and love. Stop making excuses for yourself (and people in your history who may have treated you badly), decide what is really important to you, and just go for it. The results will surprise and delight you.

Strengths: an absolute rock of strength during hard times

Weaknesses: struggling to believe anyone wants you around when hard times are over

Weapon of Choice: A double-headed war-axe

Big Secret: You're a berserk fighter, and anyone who gets you riled is going DOWN

Mio

Books: The Name of the Blade Trilogy

You are brave, quick-thinking and resourceful, with a strong sense of responsibility for other people and deep-seated qualities of leadership and decisiveness. But sometimes you can also be careless - even reckless - especially with your own safety, and you tend to be manipulative when you think it's for a good cause, because you're just so sure that you're right... even when you're not.

You suffer with a slight inferiority complex, even though everyone around you can see how truly special and great you are. Don't beat yourself up too much about your mistakes. Others are right to put their faith in you, but ultimately you are not responsible for the well-being of the whole world.

Strengths: bravery and badassery

Weaknesses: recklessness and a tendency to think you're a lone-wolf (you're not)

Weapon of choice: single edged blade

Big Secret: you might be... a teeny tiny bit... immortal? Maybe.

Shinobu

Books: The Name of the Blade Trilogy

You are noble-minded, sensitive and romantic, and your best quality is your instinctive protectiveness towards anyone you care for, or who seems vulnerable and in need of help. This can lead you to great acts of kindness or courage that disdain your own well-being - but it might also cause you to act in ways which hurt the very people you seek to protect, because you forget that others have the right to make their own choices, even if those choices might endanger them or your relationships with them.

Learn to talk to others about your fears and let them make their own decisions, and you will develop stronger relationships that can survive your occasional lapses into defensiveness. You do not have to fight to deserve people's love: you already have it.

Strengths: protectiveness and badassery

Weaknesses: defensiveness and tendency to excessive guilt

Weapon of choice: twin single-edged blades

Big Secret: You know more than you're telling. A lot more

What your dream holiday be like?

A long stay in an isolated cabin in lush green forests, by yourself - or with your nearest and dearest only
In a castle high on a mountain with views for miles around, with your chosen family gathered close by
With a friend or two, in a bustling city surrounded by new things to do and new people to meet
In a large group of friends - doesn't matter where so long as you're together!
On a beautiful, peaceful beach, by yourself or with family only

Which ability would feel the most natural for you?

To be able to heal almost any illness or injury to others
A natural genius for hand-to-hand, armed combat, and general badassery
The ability to convince others to follow you, and to lead them brilliantly
A unique analytical mind, which allows you to get out of any kind of trouble
Powerful illusion magic, so that you could never be caught or held by others

What kind of bird would you be?

A silent yet powerful swan
A swift and savage falcon
A golden voiced skylark
A cunning magpie
A lonely wandering seagull

What is your worst nightmare?

Watching someone be hurt without being able to help
Disappointing and letting people you care for down
You're invisible and no one can see, hear, or remember you
You're late to class, there's a test - whoops, you're naked!
The monsters are coming, and your legs don't work

The enemy is attacking right now - what is your job?

Setting up an emergency medical bay for the injured
Standing your ground to hold them off as long as possible
Getting the injured and civilians to safety
Leading a small force around the back in a daring counter-attack
Assessing the situation, organising everything. and giving the orders

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Soft, freshly baked bread with seeds and nuts, glazed with honey, and as much butter as you want
Spicy meat curry with rice, chutney and flatbreads
A classic roast dinner with gravy, vegetables, yorkshire pudding
Delicate seafood with vegetables, rice and lashings of soy sauce
Cake, cake, cake, cake...

How do you feel about your family?

Get on brilliantly with mum, fight like cats and dogs with dad
Get on wonderfully with dad, fight like cats and dogs with mum
Love and respect both parents equally
Ack, forget about my parents - my siblings drive me insane!
Forget my parents, let me tell you about my amazing siblings...

The one thing that, no matter what, you could never do without

Music
Books
Your pet/s
Your boyfriend/girlfriend
Your family

You're going to get to visit a fantasy world - what kind of world do you chose?

A traditional European fairytale with magic, princesses and shapeshifters
An African-influenced world of crowns, castles, warring kingdoms and meddling Gods
A modern city filled with hidden magic, doorways to other dimensions, and monsters good and bad
A Northern Indian-influenced world of icy mountains, wild wolf-magic and haunting song
A fairytale version of Japan, filled with half-forgotten enchantments, where beauty and terror entwine

What do you fight for?

Your family
Your country
Your people
Your boy/girlfriend
What is right

FOUR THINGS ON THURSDAY

Hello, hello, hello Dear Readers - and Happy Thursday to all!

Today I've got a selection of random things to share. I hope you'll like some or all of them, so let's get started.

1) I could do without the large and annoying caption (and whatever you do, don't read the comments) but this little girl is amazing. Two separate people sent the video to me saying she reminded them very much of Mio, and since this is just how I imagined Mio fighting, it made my day.

2) Stuff for USian Dear Readers! The US edition of Darkness Hidden is officially available in hardback and ebook over there as of now, so if you've been patiently waiting for this moment - go forth! Also, my US publisher (Candlewick Press) have recommended 'Storm Clouds Fleeing from the Wind' - my Akira prequel story in the Things I'll Never Say anthology - for a James Tiptree Jr Award! This doesn't mean I'm actually in the running, that's up to the judges, but nevertheless, I'm thrilled. This award is about making people question their assumptions about gender and sexuality through fiction and I am 100% up for that.

3) The American School Library Journal are compiling a list of the 100 best Young Adult novels ever - and they're doing it based on a popular vote that anyone can take part in. Now, I don't know about you, but whenever a list of this type comes out I generally find myself torn between being amused, exasperated and infuriated because a good half of the books on it aren't YA or children's novels at all. They're classics written for adults that some people seem to think count as YA because... well, just because, you know, the leads are sort of youngish... and anyway kids should read them! Look, I love Pride and Prejudice, Hamlet, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby and Wuthering Heights as much as the next person, and read most of them as a teen, BUT THEY ARE NOT YOUNG ADULT NOVELS JUST BECAUSE THE MAIN CHARACTERS AREN'T MARRIED YET DAMMIT. *Pants* Anyway, I headed right over there and voted for a raft of my favourite YA novels - and I hope you'll consider taking five minutes to do the same. If you happened to pop Shadows on the Moon (still my favourite of my own novels) into your list of faves that'd be brilliant too, but of course you don't have to! Just vote anyway.

4) Lately I've been making an effort to learn to cook lots of new (healthy) recipes and have been so impressed by my own efforts that I've been tweeting progress reports and pictures. By popular demand, I've decided to share one of those recipes here. I picked a nice simple one that's good for beginners but delicious enough for confident cooks. This recipe is actually all mine, so I hope everyone likes it! It's very healthy and has about two of your five a day in it. 

Healthy and Delicious Frittata

I make enough for two with this, so I can have leftovers the next day. If you only want one meal, half the amount of ingredients. If you want to feed four, double them. Simplez!

Ingredients:

Five large free range eggs
A splash of milk
A pinch of salt, a pinch of black pepper, and a teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 of a red onion, thinly sliced
1 small bag of baby spinach leaves, washed
200g of boiled new potatoes, cut into 3cm cubes
200g of boiled sweet potatoes, cut into slightly larger chunks
A handful of crumbled feta cheese - about half of a small mug
A handful of sweet cherry tomatoes (Tomkin, Aromatic, Sunblush, whatever you like) cut into halves
A low fat cooking spray, or if you're not watching your weight, a teaspoon of butter and a tiny glug of oil to stop the butter burning in the pan
Optional: six to twelve thin slices of Chorizo.

First of all, cut up and boil your sweet and new potatoes. It should take about 20mins for the new potatoes - but only eight to ten for the sweet ones, so get the new ones in the pan first and then add the sweet ones later. When they're all cooked enough to slide off a knife or a fork when you stick it into them, but are still firm enough to hold their form, drain them and pop them aside in the pan, to keep warm.

Next, spray or butter/oil your frying pan and pop it on a medium high height. Wait until you can feel the heat of the pan when you hold your palm a few inches above the cooking surface, and then toss in the onions. You want to cook these until they're starting to go lovely and translucent and soft. It doesn't matter if they go a little brown but if they're starting to catch on the bottom of the pan before they look about done, tip in a little water - not too much! - it'll stop them burning and also generate some steam, which helps them cook faster.

When the onions are nearly done, empty in the baby spinach leaves. It's going to look like loads too much spinach - you'll think 'What have I done?!?' but don't worry. Another tiny glug of water into the pan and a few moments of stirring the leaves around and by the time the water has evaporated and the pan is dry again the leaves will have wilted down to about a quarter of their previous mass. When the leaves look shiny, dark and soft, all folded in on themselves, they're ready.

If you're quick at cracking and mixing eggs you can leave the pan for a second to do the next part. If you need a little more time or your hob is very hot, just take the pan off the heat for a moment. It's sensible at this point to make sure that the onions and spinach are evenly distributed around the pan because the eggs are going on top soon.

Crack your five eggs into a bowl, add the splash of milk, and the seasonings, and then whisk it all together until the mixture looks an even yellow colour. Then pour the eggs into the frying pan, and follow immediately with the sweet and new potatoes. Give them a nudge around so that they're evenly distributed across the pan as well. Then sprinkle the feta cheese all across the surface of the frittata (not putting a big chunk the section of the pan you've earmarked for yourself, because trust me, you won't end up getting that part and then you'll be sad. Fairness pays, kids!).

Leave the pan on the heat for a few minutes, watching it. When your frittata looks like this:

Eg. it's still a little gloopy and jelly-like on top, but a quick shake of the pan shows that the bottom has solidified, throw the cut up tomatoes on the top and then put the frittata under the grill (if your grill is slow to warm up, maybe put it on a few moments beforehand so it has time to warm up).

It should take four or five moments for the top of the frittata to solidify under the grill. Some people like to leave theirs under the grill until it goes really sizzly and brown on top, but if you do this chances are that the frittata will be solid in the middle. I like mine a little bit softer in the centre, more like scrambled eggs, so I take it out more quickly. This is just personal taste - do what pleases you.

Using a large spatula, cut the frittata in two and serve yourself and whoever is eating with you (or else fold the second half in two and put it in a Tupperware for tomorrow, which is what I do).

Voila!

Sometimes, if I'm in the mood for something a bit meatier, I'll pop five or six thin slices of Chorizo in the oven and let them crisp up while I'm cooking the frittata, then put them on top of it once it's cooked. The Chorizo is super crunchy and salty and goes brilliantly with the cheese and eggs, but watch out - depending on how hot your oven is they really only need a few minutes, and one minute too long in the oven and you end up with charcoal, so don't get distracted!

Let me know if you try this and how it turned out. I might post more recipes in the future, since lots of lovely Tweeps keep asking me to - register your protests in the comments if it's not your thing.

Have a great weekend, duckies. I'll read you next week :)

HEY, SUMMIT! I FIXED YOUR DIVERGENT POSTER FOR YOU!

So, has everyone seen the official poster for the film version of Veronica Roth's DIVERGENT? I really loved the book. I read it way before it came out, after being lucky enough to win an ARC from the author's blog (which I still have, and much treasured it is, especially since Veronica filled it with wonderful notes that gave insight into her writing process). There's controversy surrounding the novel, and controversy surrounding the film and its casting, but I've been pretty much willing to keep an open mind about it. Until this:

Whut.

So... this is a film about a young hero, and her journey to both physical and emotional strength. About her battle to reconcile basic decency and kindness with courage and necessary ruthlessness. About the terrible things human beings do to one another, and about freeing your mind from preconcieved notions and prejudice and daring to think for yourself.

And this is what Summit Entertainment give us for the film poster. "Hi! My name is Tris Prior - but my love interest there, the guy with the giant gun? He is clearly more important than I am, since he's right at the front of my poster. In order to show that I'm not one of those awful, unsympathetic, domineering women, I'm going to stand behind him, completely unarmed, with my back to you, while coyly looking over my shoulder. But enough about ME! The important thing here is that you can clearly see my boobs AND my butt! Do you like my butt? They lit it specially, defying all the normal laws of light and shadow, and placed it at the exact centre point of this poster!"

I don't know what the film is going to be like. But I do know that this is an awful poster. Egregiously bad. Exasperatingly terrible. This is not the poster that DIVERGENT should have. This is a poster for some other film about a boy and his giant gun, and his girlfriend with the shiny bum. Here. I fixed it:

Much better.

THE ENTITLEMENT ISSUE

Hello, my duckies! I hope you have all had a lovely weekend? Welcome back to the blog.

So, you might remember that a couple of months ago I did a post called Readers, Writers and Pirates in which I looked at the sense of entitlement that allows some readers to happily steal income from writers while still expecting the writers to continue producing books for them.

That post has a few paragraphs which list other ways some people act out their entitlement issues when it comes to the producers of their favourite content. When I was writing it, that section was a lot longer and looked at the tendency of some readers to personally attack authors in a bit more depth, but it wasn't driving the main point I wanted to make, so I cut it for clarity and length. But I did continue thinking about that and wondering if I should do a post which specifically addressed it.

Then a few weeks ago I woke up and found an unusual message from a Goodreads user in my inbox, and I was given further food for thought.

(I went back and forth with myself over whether to reproduce the whole of that message here, but I decided that wouldn't really be fair to the writer, or help with the debate I want to have. So I'll paraphrase and hopefully you will get the idea.)

The message opened by telling me that the writer had recently been made aware of something I had done (self-reviewing my book, The Night Itself, on Goodreads) which they felt showed me to be an *sshole. They'd read and loved two previous books of mine, and had 'respected' me, but now they were sickened by my pathetic behaviour and in response they would add my books to their 'sh*tlist'. They would never be a reader of mine again. They peppered the post with other swearwords and insults, but that was the gist of it. The message finished by sternly admonishing me that while I may have thought I was being 'funny', in fact I had done something 'disgraceful'.

Disgraceful. Let's all just take a moment to savour that, folks. This is probably the first time I've had the word 'disgraceful' aimed at me since middle school. Feels a bit like being in a Georgette Heyer novel, which actually makes me smile a little. But the use of the word tweaked a memory and got me thinking.

I have no idea who this person is. We've never interacted in any way at all, even online, as far as I'm aware. How often do you write letters to individuals in which you call them an *sshole? And how often do you do this to individuals you have never met, never spoken to before, whose lives and actions have literally zero effect on your life or actions? Bearing that in mind, doesn't the tone of this letter seem a little... strange?

The message assures me that this person is never going to read or buy any of my work again. But surely, having severed that connection between us, it makes even less sense to write to me and personally take me to task, like a maiden aunt berating an unruly member of their Sunday School Class? I don't want to assume I know what's in this person's head, but the tone of the letter seems to be implying that I should... care. Care what they - a complete stranger - think about my behaviour. Maybe even adjust said behaviour accordingly. They seem to think that as the author of a book they liked, I owe them something.

Now, this post isn't really about the message or the person who sent it. It's about the attitude it betrays - which is part of a larger issue. The Entitlement Issue. his manifests in various ways, which often sound something like:

• I spent good money on this book, and now I feel author owes it to me to justify their opinions/writing decisions when I question them on Twitter/Tumblr/Facebook. If they don't then they're being disrespectful to me and their other readers, who are responsible for their success.
• I really liked this author's books until they wrote this story/scene/ending that doesn't fit with my expectations/hopes. Frankly, I feel they betrayed/conned me and all their readers.
• I spent all this time reading this book by this author, and now the next book isn't coming out for ages. Why aren't they providing their readers with more content on a reasonable timescale? How dare they disrespect me and their other readers like that?
• I love this author and their previous book/series, but now they're writing something way out there that doesn't seem like it's aimed at their fans at all. I don't know if they're showing off or just being contrary, but they're being disrespectful to the people that are responsible for their success.
• I thought this author was a certain person, but now it turns out they haven't divulged full details about who they are/their history/their opinions, and now that I know The Truth it's clear their deception has defrauded their readers.
• This author used to provide free stuff, now all of a sudden they expect their loyal readers, who have supported and encouraged them, to pay for their stuff. I'm disgusted!

The Entitlement Issue. Don't get me wrong. I can see how easy one of these attitudes (or all of them) might be to fall into. The other day I learned something about an author whose books I've very much enjoyed, and my first reaction was 'Damn, I liked her books so much. I thought she was better than that...'

Which is where reality slapped me in the face with an OH HELL NO. Expected her to be better than what, exactly? A person who writes books? That is all any author is - a person who writes books that I may or may not like. Just what was I expecting, other than that? I'd picked up and enjoyed this lady's books, sure, but that doesn't mean I know her, or have the right to expect her to act the way I would, or even in a way I like.

You see, this is the root of the G.R.R. Martin is Not Your Bitch problem. This is the root of why Charlene Harris received death threats for daring to finish the Sookie Stackhouse series (links in prev post). This is the root of why, when Stephenie Meyer said in a public interview that she was burned out on vampires, a whole slew of readers on a Twilight message board called *her* a disgrace (which is what tweaked my memory) and told her that she should be ashamed of herself for disrespecting her readers that way. It's the root of why my former reader, on deciding that they no longer wanted to read my books, felt entitled to write me an abusive email about it.

We - I'm talking about readers now - connect to books in such a real and vital way. We take those words inside us and make them real with our own feelings and memories and interpretations. And then, we go online to learn more and find an author's blog and Tumblr, and maybe trade a few comments or Tweets with them. They're funny! They RT links about social justice! Wow, it really does feel like we've made this amazing connection. Like we know this person, have an insight into their deepest selves. Oh my God, how wonderful!

But how perilous, too. Because it's an illusion. I'm the first person to say that you CAN form deep, meaningful relationships online, because a good percentage of my real life best friends are people that I first met online. However, that takes time, and asking questions, and having real conversations, and falling out, and making up, and being there for each other through rough times, and meeting in real life and STILL liking each other. Getting a smiley face reply from an author on Twitter is not the same thing.

Many writers care deeply about their readers. Many interact online with them, answer their letters, spend a lot of time addressing their concerns, answering questions, and offering free, extra content. I am one of those authors. I desperately want my readers to enjoy my work, and I get a warm, motivating glow everytime I find out that they have. There are some readers of mine who've been on this blog since day one, who I feel I know really well, and am very fond of.

BUT. Just because writers chose to give their time to readers this way, that doesn't mean the connection between writer and reader is a statutory right that comes with the purchase or borrowing of a book. The author's time and attention is not a gift with purchase. And it doesn't mean that they are beholden to their readers.

The other week we had the revelation that J.K. Rowling published her debut crime novel under a penname and a pseudonymous bio, that of Robert Gilbraith. In and amongst all the expected sour-grape carping there was disturbing vein of outrage over the fact that J.K. had dared to publish a book under a different name and not tell anyone.

This, said a vocal group of readers, was dishonest. How dare J.K. Rowling bamboozle potential readers by coming up with a fictional identity which was entirely different to her own? This 'fake' name and mendacious biography were inexusable chicanery; readers were owed honesty about the personality and history of the people who wrote the books they bought. They had lost all respect for J.K.R. in the wake of this shameless fraud.

If you are easily offended look away now, Dear Readers, because I have to say it: this is BULLSH*T.

Writers have been publishing work under pennames and made up biographies for hundreds of years. This was either to protect their identities in a time when taking up the pen was considered to be a slightly shady profession, or enable their writing to be assessed fairly on its merits instead of condemned *because* of the personality and history of its writer. Many, many, many female authors, including George Eliot and the Bronte sisters, published their work under male pseudonyms because they knew that it and they would otherwise get a critical savaging. And indeed, when Charlotte Bronte outed herself as a woman, the same critics who had praised Jane Eyre as an astonishing literary work previously immediately turned around and mauled it, decrying it as melodramatical and worthless romantic drivel - in exactly the way that the first one star reviews of The Cuckoo's Calling only started appearing on Amazon after Robert Gilbraith was ratted out.

Now, if you're reading a piece of non-fiction - a reference work published by someone whose credentials are vital to the credibility of the work, or perhaps an autobiography which purports to depict true events of the writer's life - then the life and history of the writer may well be relevant, although they may still chose to publish under a penname.

But when it comes to fiction, the life and history of the writer are none of the readers' business. The reader does not have the right to know anything about the writer. They do not have the right to know the truth about their life or history or qualifications or *anything*. You are buying a book! A work of fiction! You are not buying the writer. If I chose to change my biography tomorrow to say that my mother was a Russian Olympic wrestler and my father a Prima Ballerina who defected together and opened a cake-shop in New York, from whence I fled to join the circus at the age of twelve, and that I now divide my time between juggling bears and writing novels, exactly what would it change? It wouldn't affect the quality of my books, or how much anyone would enjoy them. Therefore, it doesn't matter.

But things like this *do* matter to some readers. They matter exactly because those readers do feel that when they buy (or borrow) a book and spend those hours enjoying this form of entertainment, they have also purchased something else, something intangible, from the writer. The author owes them something now. Honesty, loyalty, consideration, love or respect, or adherance to a certain moral code. Readers who think this way consciously or unconsciously believe reading a book and liking it makes the author of that book accountable to them. Personally.

People can write reviews, even write to me personally, all day long to tell me that they hate or disapprove of my books. That doesn't strike me as odd or make any alarm bells ring. But whether the author has written something you liked or disliked, by the time you pick the book up, they have already fulfilled their part of the bargain in the writer/reader exchange. You have a piece of entertainment, created by them, in your hand. That's all you're actually entitled to.

If an author's conduct disgusts you - as, for example, Orson Scott Card's homophobic ranting disgusts me and so many others - then go ahead and stop reading their books. Call them an *sshole on Twitter. Write a blogpost about it, make .gifs on Tumblr. Go to town! But don't be pretending that they have somehow let you down, personally, because you read and enjoyed their work and as a result they owed it to you to act in a way that you, personally, find acceptable.

The author doesn't owe readers the ending they wanted (especially since it would literally be impossible to give *everyone* their ideal ending). They don't owe readers apologies if the book didn't give them whatever they might have expected based on the cover and blurb. They don't owe explanations for the choices they made in writing that story about those characters. They don't owe readers a career in which they only write the exact same types of books forever. They don't owe readers the next book by a certain date, or free extras on their website, or ebooks that come out on the same date as the physical book at a slight discount, or simultaneous release dates for their book in whatever country the angry reader happens to be in.

Wrtiers are entitled to publish work under a penname. To take as long as they need to write a new book, or to write entirely different kinds of books. To stop writing books at all. To respond as a human being when they - not the content of their books! - get attacked. To not actually care what readers think of them personally, regardless of how many of their books the readers may have read or how much they liked them. Most especially if, despite this, the readers in question are rude or scary.
 
Writers are people. They can be hurt by you every bit as much as you can be hurt by them. Being published doesn't give them an impenetrable armour which allows rudeness and abuse to fly off. Writers just want to do their jobs, send their books out into the world, and hopefully make a decent living at it. Please do not allow your entitlement issues to either elevate them to the status of gods, or dash them down onto the rocks like disgraced idols.

When someone buys a book, they own it. And that's all. They do not own a piece of the author.

This is my two cents on the topic. What do you guys think? Am I wrong here - do writers owe readers more than just books? Let me know in the comments.

NOTE: Please, please, please, no personal attacks on the letter writer. You don't need to defend me. I just want to talk about the issue, OK? OK. By the same token, personal attacks on me or anyone else I like will be deleted so fast your head will spin, because this is my place and I Haz Teh Banhammer. Other than that, fly free, my children!

SOME MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED

Hello, hello, hello, Dear Readers! Happy Tuesday to all - I hope you've had a good weekend and week so far. If you, like me, are exasperated with what seems to be endless coverage on the death of the elderly and controversial former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, then you'll be delighted that The Zoë-Trope can offer you something completely different!

Lately I've been having a bit of a hard time getting into new books. I think this is mostly because my head is so full of The Name of the Blade bk# 3, but it's also partly because what I really want is to be able to read The Infernal Devices for the first time all over again - and I can't, obviously - so any other new stuff just can't please me. As a result I've been on a bit of a movie-kick, and I thought I'd share some mini-reviews and recommendations with you.

First up is Beautiful Creatures, based on the YA novel and series of the same name by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia. Fankly I found the book really overlong (and when *I* say that, you know there's some weight behind it) as well as problematic in several areas. But I also often find that flawed books can make the best films, as the need to cut extraneous matter can pull the poor, suffocated story up out of all the unnecessary words and give it a chance to breathe.  So I went to see this with an open mind.

The Good: Both lead actors actually had Southern accents, rejecting the book's claim that Lena and Ethan somehow speak perfect, accentless American, which - as a British Northerner with a definite acccent - disgusted me as snobbish classism. The actor playing Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) had a certain unexpected puckish charm which I thought was lovely, too. Watching Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson go for their parts with all the subtlety and enjoyment of pantomime dames was pretty fun and some of the visual effects were clever and interesting.

The Bad: Sadly the problematic aspects of the story were exaggerated by the film, rather than being smoothed out. The fact that male casters (witches, basically) can chose their own fate, and chose to be good even if they are 'Dark' by nature, while female casters are irrational and ruled completely by their emotions to the point where they are unable to chose between 'Light' and 'Dark' and have to be picked by some unknown higher power, is... well, I'm stunned they left that in the film. It's pretty offensive when you think about it for more than a second. My memory of the book isn't pinpoint sharp, due to the aforementioned excess words, but I'm pretty sure that its final third wasn't such a mishmash of badly organised elements, and one of the few interesting plot twists - an unexpected series of betrayals - was either ignored or bungled by the filmmakers.

Overall: Sadly the film failed to move me, and left me with no desire to either re-read the book or any of its sequels, or to buy the DVD. Not recommended.

Next, The Host, based on Stephenie Meyer's adult science fiction novel. I loved the book - I found and still find it hard to believe that it was written by the same author who inflicted Twilight on us all.  Reading it was a really emotional experience, and I was looking forward to seeing the film - especially since it had netted such an exciting young cast. But then word of some really *awful* reviews reached my ears. Stubbornly I decided to watch it at the cinema anyway, instead of waiting for DVD release. My attitude was definitely cautious, however.  

The Good: Um... everything. I mean it. I have no idea what the critics who ripped this apart were thinking. Apart from, maybe, that they've been ripping Twilight apart for years and no one has listened to them, and the films were huge anyway, so now they have a chance to attack and destroy this other Stephenie Meyer project which is far more vulnerable? Which is a pretty sh*tty motive, if so. I can see that some people might subjectively not care for the film - not everyone can like the same things - but to call the film 'a mess' or the dialogue 'cringeworthy' seems to me so far wide of the mark that it baffles me. I adore mocking bad dialogue; I still snigger over 'The Skin of A Killer!' If bad writing had been there, I'd have been laughing and cringing with everyone else. But it wasn't. This film was great, and I loved it. My friend who came to see it with me was reduced to tears by the end. After we left she confided to me - as we made a hasty visit to a bookshop so that she could buy the book - that she had been expecting a 'trainwreck', but had been completely won over.

Lead actress Saoirse Ronan was breathtaking. She played the dual roles of Wanderer, a pacifist alien who occupies a human 'host', and Melanie, the human host who refuses to fade away and shows Wanderer why humans deserve a chance to live their lives un-occupied, even if those lives are often brutal and scary and full of loss, with incredible maturity and emotion. It was really difficult to keep in mind how very young she is. What a talent. I also loved the performances by the young actor playing her little brother Jamie, and especially the actor playing Ian. He wasn't at all the way I pictured the character after reading the book, but he brought such a thoughtful tenderness to the part that I fell in love.

Overall: The film is beautifully paced, visually stunning, and heart-breaking. Please go see this if you haven't already. It will restore your faith in humanity to know that the author of Twilight actually *is* talented and does deserve success.

Now for some DVDs!

Firstly Total Recall, which starred Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale. This is based on Philip K. Dick's short story 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale'. I was interested to see this new version because the original film starring Sharon Stone and Arnold Schwarzenegger was a favourite of my father's and I watched it many times growing up. As an adult I feel that it was an underrated classic, a brave and penetrating look at the nature of reality, memory and identity that also offered up a fast-paced action thriller and astonishing special effects for the time. However, I'd heard that this new film cut out most of the interesting elements, like the fact that most of the story took place on Mars, and had plot holes you could fly a Boeing 747 through, so I wasn't too hopeful.

The Good: Kate Beckinsale. I know she's done action in various sort-of-B-movies like the Underworld films and Van Helsing, but I had no idea how *good* at it she really was. She's fantastic in this. She makes it perfectly credible that the hero, a beefy construction worker, would be fleeing from her in terror. She is icy and relentless as she pursues him literally across the whole world, slaughtering people left and right without a qualm, and I loved the fact that she's basically this film's 'Big Bad'. Yeah, there's a pompus, wig-wearing politician prancing about in the background talking about his grand plan, but Beckinsale's Lori was clearly the main threat. I also loved her boots. Where can I get some?

The Bad: Um... everything else? Poor Jessica Biel, despite being a very classy and reliable action actor, was completely under-used. Bill Nighy was both miscast AND under-used. Colin Farrell was only convincing when he had his mouth shut. The new storyline that the filmmakers inserted to replace the Mars one was predictable, and any meaningful contemplation on the true meaning of character, memory or identity was lost because the film stubbornly refused to tell us whether Dennis Quaid/Carl Howser had ever actually been a double agent in the first place, or just a dupe. The main plot point of the new story, 'The Fall' was ludicrous any way that you sliced it. And every time that the film busted out the expensive special effects, like for the magnetic car chase, my interest just seemed to fizzle. GIVE ME SOME MUTANTS ON MARS, DAMMIT.

Overall: You can enjoy this film, so long as you detach it from any memories of the original or the short story that inspired it. It's mindless action of a fairly competent type without anything that makes it truly memorable other than Kate Beckinsale's impeccable turn as the hero's fake wife/nemesis. Oh, well.

Given my craving for Mars and Mutants, it's probably not that unexpected that my next DVD choice was John Carter, last year's live action megaflop from Disney. This is based on an early piece of science fiction adventure from Edgar Rice Burroughs (writer of Tarzan) called A Princess of Mars. I had a vague memory of reading a good review of it somewhere, so I got it and put it in with not-altogether-high hopes.

The Good: Almost everything. Wow. This was really unexpectedly awesome. The opening portion of the film, which purports to show the hero's death, intrigued me, but I felt my interest wane when we suddenly flashed back to a wild western setting and one of those My Man Pain Is So Holy Heroes who basically acts like a complete d*ck to everyone around him. BUT! The moment the hero arrives on Mars everything kicks into high gear. I loved the fact that the low gravity atmosphere of Mars was reflected in John Carter's being, at first, unable to even walk without flying through the air and landing face first in the dirt, and then, once he'd got the hang of walking, in his being so strong that he inadvertantly broke and killed stuff all around him. The film bravely went into full space opera mode, with assorted alien races, a dying yet starkly beautiful Mars landscape, and gorgeous spaceships zooming all over the place. The heroine of the piece, Princess Dejah, is brilliant - highly intelligent, sarcastic and also badass. I felt as if the film really ought to have kept the novel's name, A Princess of Mars, because this was every bit as much Dejah's story as John's. In their first scene together John whips Dejah's sword away from her and tells her to get behind him so that he can protect her from her enemies. She calmly takes the sword back and kills her enemies herself, to which John responds, 'All right, I'll stay behind you...' Classic.

The Bad: This did feel a tiny bit rushed in places. For instance, in several scenes great play would be made of chaining the hero to a rock and flinging him into a dungeon, only for his captors to come back and retrieve him from the dungeon and chain him to ANOTHER rock two minutes later. The ending, too, failed to quite satisfy me. I think we were supposed to assume that time on Mars and Earth (or Barsoom and Jarsoom) moves at different rates, and that therefore John would be able to return to Mars not long after he had left it despite a thirteen year sojourn on Earth... but I really wanted that confirmed. A single scene, even a split-second flash of him arriving back, would have been enough.

Overall: If you're in the mood for visually brave and thrilling old-school science fiction, check this out. I thought it was wonderful.

Finally! You may remember that last year I was almost beside myself with excitement about Snow White and the Huntsman, the film which had such a beautiful trailer that it set the internetz on fire and launched a few hundred thousand downloads of 'World Collapsing' the trailer music composed by Danny Cocke. It looked like the sort of story that I would write, and I can't really give a higher compliment than that. But sadly when I went to see it I was disappointed. It was a beautiful but ultimately empty film that offered nothing new in terms of plot or characterisation, and took itself far too seriously. Because of all this kerfuffle however, I completely missed out on Mirror, Mirror, the *other* Snow White film that came out at about the same time, starring Julia Roberts and Lily Collins. I've now finally rectified that.

The Good: Lily Collins and Julia Roberts are both on fire in this film. Lily manages to be charming, innocent and sweetly naive - all the classic Princess traits - without seeming either cloying or obnoxious. There's a sense of blooming bravery about her performance that won me over. Julia Roberts has her own charm here, the charm of a powerful and ruthless woman at the top of her game. She managed to raise a few genuine chills with her smiling and entirely rational evil, something Charlise Theron signally failed to do with all that over-the-top sqwacking in SWATH. Ms. Roberts' English accent is also far better than Charlise Theron's. Just sayin'. The visuals are glorious, especially the stark black and white of the woods and the creepy long-tailed beast. This film seems like a live action version of an animated Disney or Pixar feature, and it's full of the simple humour and simple kindness that make those films so heartwarming. I also fell in LOVE with the mini-Bollywood routine at the end.

The Bad: Squashed between powerhouse performances from the two female leads, the Prince ended up feeling like a little bit of a non-entity, although predictably I warmed up to him when he started acting like a puppy. I also felt that Sean Bean was a bit out of place here in his cameo role as the King; someone smoother and less rugged would have been better suited to the part. And why no on-screen comeuppance for the wicked queen?

Overall: A vibrant visual spectacle with excellent performances and a heart of gold, well worth seeing for anyone who likes fairytales, Disney/Pixar films, or just adorable tales that make you feel warm and snuggly inside.

And that's it from me! What have you been watching lately?

HEROINE ART

Hello, everyone! Today's post comes to you via Diana Peterfreund's latest blog. I defy anyone who has EVER written a story with a heroine to resist the procrastinatory delights of the Heroine Generator game. YOU CAN'T DO IT. Copyedits? Deadlines? Pffft. LOOK AT THE ADORABLE SELECTION OF ACCESSORIES!!!11eleventy.

Ahem.

So I used the website to generate art for each of my heroines. Guys, this is possibly the most fun I've ever *had* picking out clothes. It's insane. Anyway, I present to you... My heroines!

Alexandra of The Swan Kingdom! Note her fancy dress with lacy bits, which has been patched up due to living in the forest with all those cute little animals, plus the rolled up sleeves to allow her to forage for food. I think her hair was probably a bit wilder than this, but I didn't want to end up with her looking like Merida from BRAVE.

Zira from Daughter of the Flames! Again, hair is a bit tidy - plus they wouldn't let me scar up her face. BUT BUT! Doesn't she look like she could kick your butt so comfortably in this outfit? I *want* this outfit. Yeeees.

Suzume of Shadows on the Moon - or rather Yue, in her fancy incarnation. She's all dressed up for an important do and looking forward to it about as much as I look forward to extensive dental treatment, as you can tell from her expression. Poor Yue! This outfit isn't the slightest bit historically accurate, or even accurate to the book, but it sure was fun to play with.

Frost! The heroine of FrostFire. She's in her mountain travelling get-up, here. She's a bit clean and tidy (this is a recurring theme for me, isn't it? I do torture my poor creations rather a lot) but I think her wary expression is spot on.

My final piece of artwork - Mio, heroine of The Night Itself and the best of The Name of the Blade trilogy. Isn't she CUTE? You'd never realise that she's hiding a deadly weapon somewhere on her person, would you? I totally have a crush on my girl after working on this. I can also tell that her best friend Jack helped her pick out everything she's wearing here, because black and purple are Jack's favourite colours. I wish Jack was my best friend, too...

And now, I bid you farewell, although I'm pretty sure that you're all already rushing off to generate your own artwork anyway. In the meantime I'll go back to my copyedits. In about five minutes, once I've finished this last piece of heroine art...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hello, hello, hello Dear Readers - and a very happy 2013 to you all!

2012 was a fun, frightening, challenging and really exciting year. I had lots of firsts. My first author event in London - at Foyles - where so many of you lovely Dear Readers turned up and made my day despite all my travel trevails. My first - and second! - award ceremonies, the Leeds Book Award and the Lancashire Book of the Year Award. I didn't win anything at either, but both events were so amazing to be part of that it hardly mattered. My first time meeting a Huge Big Time Author - the delightful Cassandra Clare - and actually *interviewing* them for this blog. I recieved my first foreign edition of one of my books, the Polish translation of Shadows on the Moon, and the first audio-book version, again of Shadows.

This year was also very busy writing-wise. We did an awesomeness overhall of the first The Name of the Blade book, The Night Itself, which involved extensive re-writes and revisions. At the beginning of the year I started work on the second book of the trilogy (title to be announced) and I managed to finish it (phew!) just before the end.

I've had a truly wonderful 2012, and I hope that you all did too.

2013 is going to be a special year because this is when my baby, my precious, The Night Itself, will finally be unleashed on the world after nearly three years of planning and scheming and keeping everything about my Big Secret Project, well, *secret*. We've got the cover reveal to come, and hopefully other fun things associated with the release on the 4th of July. I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks about the story, which is such a huge change of direction for me as a writer. I, along with many other people, have fingers crossed that the first book of The Name of the Blade will be a hit. I'm feeling equal parts terror and elation over this!

Between October 31st and December the 3rd of this year I'll be travelling to Brighton to attend the World Fantasy Convention. This will be my very first con, and I'm not on any panels - I'm just going as a reader and a fan. There are going to be some really amazing people there, including members of my writers group The Furtive Scribblers, some of whom are travelling from as far afield as Canada. I'm feeling about equal parts terror and elation over this, too.

I don't know what other things might be to come in 2013. I'm hoping that I get to hit London again, and maybe meet a few more of my Dear Readers in the process. I've got the final book of my trilogy to write, and a couple of other projects lined up that I want to give some attention to. Whatever happens, I hope that I'll continue to be blessed by the support of all the talented, dedicated and brilliant people who made my 2012 so wonderful. Hannah The PR Person, aka Lovely Lass. Annalie, otherwise known as Wonder Editor. Nancy, my Super Agent. The rest of the great team at Walker Books, and at The Miles Stott Children's Literary Agency. All the geniuses of The Furtive Scribblers. And you, my Dear Readers, who make every bit of struggle, stress and strife worthwhile.

I love you guys! Have a great year :)

THE NEXT BIG THING

Hello and Happy Tuesday my lovelies! Today I'm taking part in a meme (I know, right?! It might actually be my first, unless Roadtrip Wednesday counts) called The Next Big Thing, whereby writers tag each other to answer certain questions about whatever their newest project is - and then tag still more writers to take part.

I was tagged by the absolutely delightful Erin Bow, who talks about her Next Big Thing, Sorrow's Knot (which sounds so luciously creepy and beautiful I can't even stand it) right here.

I, in my turn, am tagging lovely writer friends R.J Anderson (author of KNIFE, SWIFT, ULTRAVIOLET and the upcoming QUICKSILVER) and Elizabeth May (the lady whose beautiful photograph and face are on the cover of FrostFire) whose first book THE FALCONER is coming out next year. These guys will be posting their own Next Big Things either this or next week, so check their blogs out.

NOTE: I would have tagged more writers for this if I could, but practically everyone I approached had either *already* taken part or *couldn't* take part for excellent reasons. As it is, R.J. has actually already been tagged by Erin in the same post that tagged me. We decided to let it slide, since I was about to break down and cry all over Twitter. 

What’s the working title for your book?

The fact that I can finally talk about this now makes me so happy and giggly. Yay! It's The Name of the Blade trilogy, and Book One is titled The Night Itself. 

A short synopsis?

When Mio steals the katana – her family's priceless sword – she only wants to liven up her fancy-dress costume. But the katana is more than some dusty heirloom, and her actions unleash an ancient and unspeakable evil. Soon the monsters of mythical Japan are stalking the streets of 21st century London, searching for her and the sword. Only the appearance of a mysterious warrior boy, Shinobu, saves Mio from death. Now Mio knows that if she cannot learn to control the katana's legendary powers, she will lose not only her own life ... but the love of a lifetime.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

The first spark of the idea was a gift from a friend who is in my writer's group. She posted the Robert Graves poem 'The Bedpost' to our online forum as part of a discussion we were all having. Now, the poem is about this legendary hero and warrior who is enchanted by an evil witch, and ends up trapped in a post of wood - the bedpost of a young girl's bed, in fact. His only chance to break the spell and gain his freedom is to whisper stories to the young woman and get her to fall in love with him. But she's only interested in bloodthirsty tales of battle and adventure, and so he remains trapped in the post.

Straight away I felt that someone needed to take this story on and give it a more satisfactory ending! But I thought that if my hero was going to be trapped in an inanimate object, it ought to be something a bit more interesting - and mobile - than a post of wood. Since he was a warrior, my brain immediately leapt to the idea of a shield or an axe or - a sword. A Japanese sword! And my hero would be a hero from ancient Japan, which would give me a chance to utilise all the wonderful mythology and folklore which I had read about during my research for Shadows on the Moon, but which I never used in that book.

I knew that with so much magic and so many mythical creatures flying about, I would need a realistic setting and a very down to earth, ordinary main character in order to keep the story feeling grounded and real, and the fantastical elements feeling strange and scary. And at that point my brain just seemed to explode with all these ideas and I began to realise that there was more story here than I could possibly tell in a single book, and that for the first time I was actually looking at a series. 

What genre does your book fall under?

It is dark urban fantasy for young adults. 

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

The actress who looks most like my idea of Mio Yamato, my heroine, is Horikita Maki. She's a Japanese actress who is more or less unknown here in the west:

For Shinobu, I would pick the actor Kaneshiro Takeshi, who is slightly better known internationally, having starred in The House of Flying Daggers and The Warlords:

Truth to tell, Kaneshiro-san is too old to play the role of teenage Shinobu now, but in my head, that is the face I see when I think of my character.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am represented by Nancy Miles of the Miles Stott Children's Literary Agency, and the book will be commercially published in the UK by Walker Books in July of 2013. 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

An astonishingly short time, for me - just under six months. That's the fastest I've ever written anything. The universe made me pay that time back in other ways, though! The first draft of the second book (which I've just finished and turned in) took over a year. 

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

The books that most immediately spring to mind are The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. Just like The Mortal Instruments, The Name of the Blade is urban fantasy with a really strong sense of setting (in TMI it's New York, in TNotB it's London). In both series there's a large cast of diverse characters, and a focus on fast paced adventure and thrill-ride fight scenes. I've also done my best to create a central love story which is as achingly romantic as the relationship of Jace and Clary in TMI, although Mio and Shinobu's connection can best be described as... unique. *Evil laughter* 

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I've already talked about the initial inspiration, which came from several different places. But I think the underlying motivation came from the books I was reading at the time. I had just finished a draft of FrostFire - it had taken me nearly sixteen months to get it to a publishable state, including masses of re-writes with my editor - and it had turned out to be the most dark and emotional of my high fantasy novels. Frankly, I needed a break. Some friends of mine - again, from my writer's group! - took me on a mega-book-buying spree. It was insane; they just kept shoving books at me and I just kept buying them. I had a job fitting all the bags on the train, let alone carrying them home from the station. Inevitably I ended up with lots and lots of urban fantasy simply because that was one of the most common things on the shelves of the bookshop. I'd read the plenty of urban fantasy fiction before that, but suddenly I had a massive collection of the most recent, cutting edge YA stuff right in my hands.

So I started reading. And some of this urban fantasy was just brilliant. It made my heart race and my brain light up and my soul sing. I loved it. But equally some of it was DIRE. So bad that I couldn't believe that anyone, let alone experienced publishing professionals, had thought this was worth the paper it was printed on. Now, as most writers will tell you, that point - the point where you're diving into a genre and you're starting to see all the patterns and all the tropes and all the cliches and all the overused ideas and under-exploited potential, where you've read the best of the best and the worst of the worst - that's the liminal space where your own imagination starts to light up. You start to ask yourself 'How would *I* have dealt with that plotline?' or think 'I would love to do my own take on a situation like that!' and finally 'Why hasn't anyone written THAT in a book yet? It would be brilliant!'

All those questions lie fallow in the back of your brain, just waiting for the right story to come along and bring them to life. So I was basically inspired to write an urban fantasy by reading urban fantasy. Which is often the way, I think.

What else about the book might pique a reader’s interest?

Well, if anyone else is as burned out as I am on books dealing with western mythos - angels and demons, werewolves and vampires, fairies, elves, mermaids, witches oh my! - but still wants breathless fight scenes, epic adventure and swoony romance, I think they will be interested in The Night Itself. And as a bonus, this will be my first published story where I get to exercise my sense of humour on the page - which I've enjoyed more than I can say - so if my blog or my Twitter have ever made anyone laugh, chances are these books will too (and possibly cry a bit as well, but who knows?).  *More evil laughter*

THE CURE FOR EVERYTHING

Hello, hello, hello, Dear Readers! Apparently I'm now pathologically incapable of opening a blog post without some reference to the weather, so I'll just get it over with by saying that if there's anything more dismal than a landscape covered in half-melted, half frozen-to-ice slush and churned up mud, with a blanket of freezing fog, I don't know what it is. If you're living somewhere that your weather is doing something - anything! - else? Lucky, lucky you!

And apparently the freezing fog carries a nasty lurgy too - at least, that's my explanation for why everyone in my family is ill right now. Including my mum, who doesn't get ill very often. When she does, it's battle stations for the rest of us, as she tends to get *very* ill, bless her, and is not the best of patients.
 
So when everyone is ill, and fractious and grumpy with it, and the weather is depressing and awful, what do you do? If you're me, you make chicken noodle soup, and this makes everyone feel a little bit better for a little while. So here's my simple recipe for a foolproof Get Better Soon dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 large leek, finely sliced
• 1/2 a butternut squash, diced
• 6 chestnut mushrooms or two large portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 1 pint of chicken stock (preferably a jelly stock)
• 1/2 a teaspoon of chopped rosemary
• 150gms of cooked chicken
• 200gms of fresh egg noodles

NOTES: This calls for the chicken to be pre-cooked because if you cook the chicken in the broth you'll get scum rising to the top, which you then have to skim off, and I find this a bit faffy. The recipe is a great way to use up the remaining scrappy bits of meat from a whole bird if you've done a roast, but you can also just buy a packet of cooked chicken if that's easier. Also, it's best to use fresh noodles; dry ones suck up a lot of liquid and you end up with no soup by the time you finish. If you do use dried pasta, add an extra 250-350mls of stock to the recipe. Oh, and remember to add salt and pepper to the whole thing before you serve it!

After you've peeled and chopped all the vegetables and the rosemary, pop them in a large pan over a medium high-heat and add a dash of vegetable or sunflower oil (not olive, as the flavour is too strong) and a knob of butter. Gently fry everything together until the butternut squash starts to break down and the carrots are tender. Don't let the leak brown - if you see it starting to get crispy, take things off the heat and add a spoonful or two of water before putting the pan back on at a lower heat. This stage will probably take about ten minutes.

After the vegetables are cooked, add the stock and turn the heat up a little bit until the pan hits a rolling boil. Leave it for another ten minutes or so. Then add the chicken and the noodles and gently stir everything around for another two to four minutes, occasionally checking the noodles to see how soft they are. Personally I like my noodles quite solid, but my mum (the person I usually make this for) likes them very soft, so bear your intended sick person in mind.

When the noodles are the right consistency and the chicken is hot all the way through, serve this in a bowl with a spoon and a fork (for twizzling the noodles) and lots of fresh, buttered bread. It's guaranteed to make an invalid feel better!

This recipe is for four servings, which is the easiest and most economical way to make it. If you don't have four people to feed you can eat it again for lunch the next day, or pop it into a tupperware container and freeze it to be reheated later. Leftovers will normally need about a cupful of hot water added to them before being reheated, as the noodles tend to suck up the liquid if they're left to sit for any length of time, and water + gentle heat gets them to release that liquid so that you have a soup again, rather than just noodles.

When I make this dish for myself, I do a spicy Oriental version because I find that heat clears my sinuses out. If you like hot food, you can make the spicy version of this by taking the rosemary out of the recipe and adding a few extras:

• 1 teaspoon of dried red chillies
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic or half a teaspoon of garlic paste
• 1 heaped tablespoon of smooth peanut butter
• A good glug of balsamic vinegar
• 5 or 6 baby corn, diced
• A handful of beansprouts

I fry the vegetables and other ingredients in the same way, but I tend to use sesame or stir-fry oil and I might use a pile of spring onions rather than the leak (holding a few finely sliced bits of onion back to sprinkle on the top when I'm ready to serve).

You cook the dried chillies and garlic with the other vegetables and add the balsamic and the peanut butter when they're cooked, allowing them to emulsify before putting the stock in. Add the beansprouts into the soup at the same time you add the noodles and the chicken.

Studies have actually shown that chicken soup (especially with lots of vegetables) really will make a sick person feel better and help them to recover more quickly. So if you're in a house of sickness at the moment, give it a try! Just be prepared to be asked for it again and again in the future!