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...