Q&A With Marcus Sedgwick

I prefer to write things set in the past or the future, but there's not much difference between them in terms of hardness. I don't mind writing things set now either; they all have slightly different challenges, that's all.

 

 

 

The way everyone does I guess - it depends on the book, which may require lots of research or none at all. If it does, I might travel, use the internet, visit a museum, talk to people, and read lots of books. Or most likely all of the above.

 

 

 

I'd like to meet Valerian from The Book of Dead Days and find out who his tailor is.

 

 

 

I don't. I just write the books I want to write.

 

 

 

I read anything. Almost anything. Lots of non fiction, history mainly, but science too. History of science. Science of history. History of the philosophy of science. That kind of thing.

 

 

 

It takes a little careful planning but when you've done that it's pretty straightforward as long as you know what you're trying to do, and who each of the narrators is...

 

 

 

Twists are hard to come up with. Really hard. I wish I did it more often but it's tricky. It's about spending a long time pondering your plot before you write, I think.

 

 

 

I'm scared of the usual stuff: kittens, fish, octopi; that kind of stuff. 

 

 

 

Only three of my books have vampires in them, and I've written over 25 books. But that's what happens when you get a reputation for something I suppose. I think the history of the vampire, and our relationship to that history, is actually the fascinating thing, and I guess that's what has made me visit the subject more than once.

 

 

 

Yes, absolutely. There have been a few false starts but I'm still hopeful one of my books will hit the screen one day, but if it does I hope it's of merit...

 

 

 

Midwinterblood is out now, published by Indigo.