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I've written some standalone novels, but a book series allows fans in. There's much more intense involvement.

Much of my publishing life was consumed by the memoirs of movie stars - or by attempts to get them to write a memoir.

My first four books were not published because nobody wanted them. They were adult books, not kids' books.

I've written 16 children's books and five unpublished novels. Some of the latter were breathtakingly bad.

There's always that discussion about fiction about how do you market it - these are books for boys, these are books for girls, these are books for adults. Actually, they're just stories, and if they're good stories, then they surpass those boundaries.

I had no idea I'd end up writing four books when I completed 'Mortal Engines.' I didn't even think it would find a publisher.

There's more fiction in my life than in books, so I don't bother with them.

Nobody told me how hard it was going to be to get published. I wrote four novels that nobody wanted, sent them out all over, collected hundreds and hundreds of rejection slips.

When I stopped performing for 16 years and lived in Michigan and was married and raising my children, I wrote about four or five books. I haven't published them. I just haven't gotten around to it for several reasons.

The hardest thing about being an unpublished writer is that there's always that voice in your head that asks if you're really being a fool. You might just really stink and not know it. You have to have a lot of blind faith in the process. You have to like it so much that you're going to do it anyway.