I couldn't make up my mind whether to do a FAQ or IAQ so voila, it's both! And I'm starting with the really important stuff…

Who would you rather travel through time or investigate dodgy extraterrestrial incidents with—the Doctor or Captain Jack Harkness?

This is extremely tough, both of them are sharply intelligent, charismatic and endlessly resourceful. Jack can't die but when the Doctor's two hearts stop beating he can, of course, regenerate. The Doctor has really cool sneakers but Captain Jack has that fantastic RAF coat. Fortunately, if you travel/work with one of them the odds are you will encounter the other sooner or later. Okay…I know, I'm stalling. I guess ultimately I'd have to choose the Doctor. I mean, he's a Lord of Time. If you ever have to face down the Daleks you want the Doctor's 900 year old intellect standing with you against the ultimate enemy.

Where do you get your ideas from?

This is a question I rarely have an answer for. I think ideas are similar to colds in some ways. One minute you're fine and the next you wonder if you're coming down with something. Most of the time I don't know why my brain latches on to certain stories but when it does I feel as though the story already exists and I'm just tuning in to it and transcribing.

I Know It's Over is an exception. The idea came from the Third Eye Blind song Ten Days Late. Even then I didn't feel as though I was inventing Nick's life, though. It's as though the main character themselves is telling you their story and you just have to try really hard to listen to what they're saying so that you can repeat the details faithfully.

What was the first novel you wrote?

I don't know if it could really be classified as a novel but it was a sixty-five page Choose Your Own Adventure type book that I penned when I was eighteen. I loved those books when I was a kid and when I got a little older I used to take them with me when babysitting and read them aloud to the kids at bedtime. Anyway, I sent my finished manuscript off to the publisher in NY who replied that they already had an entire team of people writing the Choose Your Own Adventure book series. Damn!

So my Choose book, Indigo Island Adventures, came to reside in a drawer at my mother's house for years and years but I'm in possession of it now and it begins like this:

There's lots more but you get the idea. Sometimes the story ends with you as a hero and sometimes you meet an untimely death, it all depends on your course of action. There are aliens, erupting volcanoes, werewolves and diamond thieves. I still think that publisher made a mistake in turning it down!

Did you always want to be a writer? Why young adult novels and would you ever write a novel for adults?

Technically this is 3 questions but I thought I might as well get them all over with in one shot. I figured out I wanted to be a writer when I was about seven. I loved books already and I guess as soon as I reached a certain proficiency in composing sentences it occurred to me that I could make up my own stories. I wrote on and off while growing up but I knew that it would take me a long time to get around to really dedicating myself to it.

It was only after I'd finished university and lived in Ireland for several years that I actually felt ready to get down to it. At that point it was my enthusiasm for the show Party of Five (read more about that on my blog) that made me want to try writing a young adult novel. Before that it'd never occurred to me to write something specifically for teenagers and after writing that first YA novel it hasn't seriously occurred to me to write anything else.

When writing YA you're writing about such an amazing time in people's lives, everything is fresh and new, even the people the characters are becoming. I think everything that happens to you when you're young, whether good or bad, feels more intense. I'd never say never when it comes to writing a novel for adults but I have a very strong feeling that if I do the characters will be about, oh, eighteen or nineteen.

Do you have any writing advice?

I know a lot of people swear by writing classes, critique groups and certain how-to guides. Different things work for different people. I only show one person aside from my agent my work before sending it out to my editor and I've never taken a writing class (although I was enrolled in plenty of English courses before I switched to majoring in Film Studies!). Personally, the things I believe really helped my writing were reading tons of great books and then writing, writing and more writing (and later having a fantastic editor helped too).

I don't have any special techniques or process. I'm also lacking in self-discipline so it's mostly obsession that keeps me writing. Once an idea takes hold I can't stop thinking about it. So I guess my advice would be to write about situations and characters that are capable of obsessing you. If you're going to be spending countless hours on something (I'm a slow writer so this is definitely the case with me) it won't feel so much like work if you're completely engrossed.

There are a lot of song references in your books. Is music a big inspiration?

Music, theatre and movies all have as big an influence on me as other novels do. When I was sixteen and seventeen music mattered more than books. It felt both like an escape from mundane reality and as though the musicians I admired were the ones able to give voice to my feelings. I think Finn, from One Lonely Degree, feels that same way about music but not all the characters in my books do. Regardless of whether music is in the background or foreground we all live our lives to music to a certain extent.

Any favourite song lyrics you'd like to share?

Lots and lots! But then this could get really long so for now I'll just say:

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