When I was about eight years old I used to start novels about Russian princesses called Tatiana who rode in troikas through the snow and wore huge fur coats and Faberge jewels. But inevitably the 1917 revolution came, and they suffered a terrible fate. Then, as now, my stories had to make historical sense and I couldn't write a story where Bolshevism simply didn't happen.

I am semi-retired so I write when I want to. There is a huge amount of research that goes into every scene and sometimes I do it in advance if I know I'll need it but sometimes I just verify and read around whatever topic pops up. There are always a few real people (usually deceased but known to history) and it is a point of pride to describe them accurately.

Not the very first one as I was a voracious reader from a very young age, but I do remember some of those early books. My Dad was an RAF pilot so 'Biggles' was a firm favorite, 'Swallows and Amazons', Enid Blyton books etc. By the age of seven I was reading Jane Austen, Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Dickens. My parents encouraged me to read widely and with a critical eye.

I have some ideas as I have worked in TV and film and see my stories in pictures. But for the finished version, I employ an expert!

Pillars of the Earth - I love Ken Follett books and this one takes me to Medieval England.
Pride and Prejudice - every time I read Jane Austen I find something new
All the J.D. Robb books - thrillers set in 2060 and I love Eve Dallas
The English Patient - It is like watching my favorite movie again, but it has a density that is all its own
The Night Manager - ditto, it is like watching my favorite TV series, but with an intensity that is sheer le Carre

Historical fiction, crime and police procedurals, love a good spy book, poetry, quality magazine articles, anything by Elizabeth Knox.

I don't like reading on a screen, like to hold a real book in my hands.

When I was published by HarperCollins I enjoyed speaking events and interviews. Now, Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth to fans of my books works best.

Large and Messy! With notebooks, an iPad, lots of pens, the one big "Bible" I create for every book with ages and personalities and research etc., laptop, a cat brush, eyewash for dry eyes, sugar free boiled sweets, more pens etc. But I know where everything is and chaos makes me creative.

I grew up in a suburb of the city of Auckland in New Zealand. Lots of things influenced my writing, my Dad was a very good writer and so was my Grandad, my brother, my great niece etc. I was born with a congenital heart defect and couldn't 'play' in the traditional sense, so I read instead. I had some very encouraging teachers at school. Eventually I went to live theatre and concerts and lots and lots of quality films.

The earliest memory I have about writing is saying to my mom that if I didn't write I would explode, I was about seven. I wrote poetry and prose all through my school days. Most of the jobs I have had have included writing in some way and from 2011 I have done nothing else. It has always been my passion.

After writing three books in a trilogy about WW2 and the holocaust, and one black comedic crime book, I took a break for about four years. Then I hunted around for ideas and settled on another saga, but instead of one family, there are two. The more I researched the effects of shellshock and, independently, the fate of Russians who escaped from Yalta in 1919, the more the story fell into place. My central families are fictious, but they come in contact with lots of real people. There is no personal story behind it, as there was for all the others, but this one plays into my passion for Russian prose.

I had experienced both. I started as an Indie author in 2011 and was then picked up by HarperCollins. It was a good experience for four books, but I wanted to be in control of what I wrote and when and I like the concept that a good book will succeed anywhere. I don't use financial return as my measure for success, I want people to enjoy my stories.

Initially, it contributed hugely to the spread of "The Keeper of Secrets" and over the years it has kept other little books of mine turning over. I didn't hesitate to come back when I was looking for distribution channels for the new book "The Bear and the Thistle."

I love the research process. I love stumbling on stories that deserve a book of their own, real people who did extraordinary things in terrible circumstances. But even more so, I love the responses I get from readers, when scenes and characters have moved them and they finished a book and read it again straight away. I feel privileged in those times.

Without them I would be writing for my own pleasure. Which would be okay, but nothing like as fulfilling as when people tell you they loved your book. A fully researched novel is hard work, but if you accept that and determine to do the best job you can, then the fans' reaction is part of the reward.

Book Two of the Lochmorland and Romanov saga is well under way. It just kept flowing after I finished book one, so I kept going. I really love these characters, and the new ones in Book Two, and there is so much more to mine. The action hangs on a framework of real events, so I get to say "have to run, Stalin's dying."

OH so many! Austen, Dickens, the Brontes, Dickenson, Poe, Plath, Conan-Doyle, Chandler, Rand, Fleming, le Carre, Robb, Follett, Clancy, la Plante, Farr, Knox, Crutchly, Chighley, Kidman, Moss, Smith, Ashton, Crighton...and more.

Sunshine, friends, my faith, family, coffee mornings, music, reading and of course, writing.

Listening to music, watching Netflix (for research of course), chatting to friends and family, regular coffee mornings and meetings, cooking, a little bit of social media, playing with my cat etc.

I don't read eBooks; I do listen to audio books when I want a complete break from screen time.

I have Scottish heritage and it is an ideal setting for a grand house and Ghillie balls, hunting and fishing. I wanted to show how shellshock wasn't limited to infantry but officers who were responsible for ordering men to their death in World War 1 also suffered terrible effects. And Russia was just a given, at the time it was a land of bloodshed and revolution and gorgeous Faberge pieces and I love my Grand Duke to bits.