At primary school. Being a big reader gave me a good vocab, and then a kind teacher said 'you write well' and a little kernel of pride lodges in your heart and before you know it, you're telling your friends 'I'm going to be a writer'.

I grew up in 70s suburbia. That's a very definite place in New Zealand. I think it influenced my writing in a big way because there wasn't a lot to do when you weren't at school. That meant I read a huge amount as an escape from boredom and a way of finding out about the world. Reading was such a haven for me when I was a teenager, it's a big part of why I write for young adults now.

I learnt as much as I could about the traditional publishing industry and what worried me most was that my books would have so little time on the shelves to attract the attention of readers before they deemed 'non-starters' and shredded. As a new author you need time to prove to readers that your stories are worth taking a chance on. Being an indie author gives you unlimited time to earn your readers' trust.

The Hole of the Story is a crime thriller, but behind that it's really a story about Hope's search for identity. And it's also about how families can be formed in unusual ways. If you've been abandoned by your birth parents you've got a hole in your story (and your heart) and when you get to Hope's age you start to want it filled.

Only five – that's tough. I'm going answer Phillip Pullman's Dark Matters trilogy for the first three. Staggeringly good stories and wonderful writing. They are 'The Golden Compass,' (called Northern Lights where I come from), 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass'. Read them if you haven't. And don't worry if you didn't enjoy the movie - it doesn't compare to the books. I need to pick one from my childhood, so that would be 'Watership Down'. OK, and for the final one, a literary novel called 'Industry of the Souls'. It includes one of the most memorable scenes I have ever read (spoiler alert) where the main characters, who have been in captivity in a Russian gulag for decades, partially unearth a woolly mammoth which has been preserved under the frozen tundra. They slice off a giant steak and barbecue it over an open fire and feast on their first proper meal since they were imprisoned.

When I'm writing I get into a state they call 'flow' in psychology. I'm so focused I don't notice ANYTHING else, because I am completely in the fictional world I've created, and in the mind of the character whose viewpoint I'm writing from. Time just disappears. When I'm finished I feel so satisfied it's like I've taken a happy drug.

Oo-wah. My desk is an oasis of calm. It's tucked away from the rest of the house and I bar my teenagers from using it for painting at, gaming at, eating at (which pretty much covers what they do at a desk). I like it bare, with just my beloved Macbook and a couple of favourite ceramic jugs.

All sorts, but I guess my reading fits into four categories. I like and read books for young adults, literary novels, romance, and non-fiction of the 'self help' variety.