A Notion For A Story Is For

I Got Married Young, Far Too Young, But It Is Fine. We Are Still Married 48 Years Later. I Got Married At 19.

Any Story That Gets Us Thinking, And Particularly Young People, Thinking Why? Whether It's As A Result Of Reading The Book, Or Coming Out Of The Theatre Or The Cinema, I Think We Should Just Simply Be Asking The Question 'why'? Why Did It Happen To Those People? Was It Necessary? And Anything That Gets Us Thinking Like That Is Really Important.

I Was Never A Great Reader, But There Were Two Stories I Loved Best: Kipling's The Elephant's Child And The Jungle Book. Deep Down, I've Always Wanted To Write A Book About A Wild Child And An Elephant.

I Spend Months, Sometimes Years, Doing What I Call Dreamtime, Weaving It Together Inside My Head. But When I Actually Feel That The Egg Of My Story Is Ready To Hatch, Then I Can Write It In Three Months. Then I Know The Landscape And The People Well And From The Inside, But I Don't Necessarily Know Where The Story Is Going To Take Us.

We Have Bodies Coming Home And Coffins Covered In Flags, Not Just In The Uk But World-wide.