Where did you get the inspiration for the magical characters in your Chrestomanci books and is Chrestomanci based on anyone in particular?

I think, initially, my inspiration for magical characters comes from the Essex village where I lived as a child. Everyone there was - at least - wildly eccentric. One man made a life-size mechanical elephant in his back yard, another claimed to turn into a wolf at full moon: he stood in the church porch and howled: and at least three women claimed to be witches But I have never put any of them in any of my books. It was more that they put into my head the possibility of magical characters. I don′t know where Chrestomanci came from - he just walked into my head when I was ready to write Charmed Life.

How long have you been writing and did you write when you were a child?

I have been writing since I was eight. I was nine when we moved to the village, and there were almost no books there. My sisters and I suffered from such book-deprivation that I stated writing long books in lots of exercise books and reading them out to my sisters in instalments.

Where do you write?

I write in the living room in the most comfortable chair there. It is the only way I can concentrate on the story.

Which of your books is your favourite?

None of my books are my favourite. Each one was an individual joy to write. For instance, Charmed Life came into my head all at once and complete, and I couldn′t write it down fast enough. That was amazing. Hexwood was truly difficult, and just doing it was its own reward. In Archer′s Goon I had no idea what was going to happen next and I couldn′t wait to find out. A Tale of Time City was so exciting that I was on the edge of my comfortable seat. And Fire and Hemlock was like a book I was reading and couldn′t put down.

When you′ve thought of an idea for a story, do you always know how it′s going to end and what comes first, situations or characters?

I don′t always know how a story is going to end, though I do usually. Stories come to me in all possible ways - sometimes I know the story first, sometimes I just have a feeling in my head that says, "Book. Now." And I have to start writing. The Magicians of Caprona was odder than most, because I heard a piece of music and thought, "that ought to have words" and the story came into my head as I thought it.

You have written for both children and adults. Which do you prefer and what do you see as the differences between the two styles?

Writing for adults you have to keep reminding them of what is going on. The poor things have given up using their brains when they read. Children you only need to tell things to once.

What books did you read when you were growing up?

Very few. I once found an E. Nesbit in the library and ever after searched for more, but I never found any until I had children of my own. My father was so mean that his idea of books for his daughters was to buy all Arthur Ransome′s, lock them in a high cupboard and give us one between the three of us every Christmas. I was at University when he finally produced Great Northern! So the kind of books I write are the books I always wished I′d had as a child.

Have you ever cast a magic spell? And did it work?

Yes, I accidentally cast a spell in America at a Convention. Everybody was so rude to me that I got angrier and angrier Right at the end there was panel on "Music and Magic" and everybody on the panel began on the usual rude stuff; and I, trying not to lose my temper, clasped my fingers around the microphone and said, ′Music and Magic is like this! I meant my entwined fingers, but the PA system at once began to play Schubert′s Unfinished Symphony at volume, until I took my hands away. Everyone looked at me sideways and became much more polite after that.

You say your stories always come true - what came true in Charmed Life?

What came true in Charmed Life is too private to tell. But in The Lives of Christopher Chant, Christopher breaks his neck twice (in real time) and this happened to me. In Witch Week I really did have a meal of what looked like worms in custard in a school at Halloween.

Where would you most like to travel in Chrestomanci′s worlds and why?

Series ten. I would like to meet some gods and goddesses.

About Diana Wynne Jones