Wanting to take people to a place that I have created, or with characters that I have made up. It's escapism for the readers, and I get to go there too.

Naturally, if they read my books then I think my fans are fantastic! But also I appreciate that they are willing to spend their time going with me to the places and people I write about.

The next book, Flither Lass, is due out before March 2014. It's with the beta readers right now, and I'm using this time to prepare promo material for it.

I like the Dirk Pitt adventures by Clive Cussler, the early Lovejoy novels by Jonathan Gash, books by Tracy Chevalier, and Joanne Harris.

When I'm not writing, I'm usually watching screen drama. My wife also records BBC documentaries, no doubt because she believes that my cultural horizons need expanding.

Perhaps I should amend this question to "the first novel": that's easy, it was Quercus Necromancer in 1993, which was re-written, becoming Oak Seer in 2013.

Ideas can come from everywhere and anywhere. So first I think up someone with a problem and try to come up with a logline -- yes, I realise that's probably the wrong time to write a one-liner that's intended to sell a whole stiory that's not yet written, but it really does focus the mind. Next, I work out the 5 turning points (see Aristotle's thoughts on this), fill in most, if at this stage not all, of the plot points that need to fall inbetween the main 5. I also ask myself a certain 16 questions, some of them difficult to answer (the more difficult, the better) that address things like premise, theme, and conflict. And then I have the nucleus of what is going to happen, and take it from there. And any of it can be changed as I go along.

I think it was The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis. It is the prequel to his better known The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That was the first full-length book I read.