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I'm like a magpie. I use lots of different things to build a character.

Writers are magpies by nature, always collecting shiny things, storing them away and looking for connections of things.

I like sparkles; I think I'm a magpie.

I have a magpie mind, by which I mean I see and hear little things - photos, fragments of conversation - and store them away for future use.

All writers are magpies, right? We're always stealing bits from different places and then weaving them into our little nest.

I have this magpie instinct for the next glittering object. There are one or two things I know I can't write about, though: DIY, cricket, automobile repair. I could study it for a lifetime and not produce a word on the carburettor.

I'm a real magpie when it comes to music; it's all random, and there's no pattern to what I like.

I live in the English countryside, so I'm surrounded by magpies.

What are the aspects of yourself that line up with the character? You magnify those, and the ones that don't match up you kind of kick to the curb.

My characters populate a big, vibrant world. Sometimes they rub shoulders. Sometimes they don't.