When did you first start writing?
I remember trying to write after I'd read 'A Little Princess', by Frances Hodgson Burnett, when I was six years old - that was the book that inspired me to try and create worlds. The first "book" I actually remember writing was 'Little Miss Rainbow' when I was eight years old. I illustrated it, too; coloured it in, stapled it together, and sold it to my mum for 20 pence.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in Macau, which is a little island just off the south coast of China. When I grew up there, it was a Portuguese colony; it was handed back to the Chinese government in December 1999. I lived there until I was eight and really soaked in the multi-cultural treasures it had to offer. Roman Catholicism and Buddhism lived side by side in relative peace. I remember watching elderly men practice Tai Chi in the mornings and afternoons; I remember seeing the monks dressed in orange walking down through the streets swinging their incense; I remember dragon boat racing and huge junk boats with their dominating sails. Two different languages were spoken, and with a strong English influence in its neighbouring island, Hong Kong, I was also captured by English culture, American TV, and was lucky to have a busy, full childhood with days at the beach. Family was tight-knit back then, and I visited different members weekly.
All of this HAS influenced both me as a person, and my writing. Family is a big factor in my stories. My stories usually take place in various places across the globe, or the characters are from all over the world; there is an Eastern influence in some of my books, often mixed with Celtic and Pagan mythologies of Britain and Europe, as well as Egyptian and African legends. My childhood made me believe that we could all live together as a unified world because that's what I witnessed as a small child: many languages, cultures and religions living side by side in peace. I still believe that's possible on a larger scale, even if it often seems impossible. All the best things worth having seem impossible - that's why they're WORTH having. When my characters strive for their future in my stories, this very belief - WORTH - is a huge part of their journey.
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