BBC Radio 2

When I write, I like to… rant at my partner about how a chapter won’t work, or the book isn’t going anywhere, and then end with a sudden breakthrough, which makes me immediately turn to my computer and ignore him with determination. It’s terrible behaviour! I’m lucky he is so supportive.

If I hadn't become a writer, I would have wanted to be… an expert on something really specific, for example a type of rare weed or a tiny obscure beetle. I’d have been the world expert on it, but wouldn’t necessarily be called on to share my expertise much.

My favourite hobby is… playing video games. In a way it’s my least favourite hobby too, I resent it a lot because they're are ridiculously addictive. I think Elizabeth is Missing would have been finished a good six months earlier otherwise.

The book that inspired me to write is… I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. There are two styles of writer in the book – the protagonist, Cassandra Mortmain, who writes while ‘sitting in the kitchen sink’, and her father, the tortured genius who hides himself away in the castle gatehouse. I thought I’d be happy being either.