What was it like writing for the Olympic opening ceremony compared to writing a novel?
Oh gosh!!! Great question. Well, writing a novel you’re on your own in a room for months on end and you hope some people will read what you write. On the Olympics, I was just one member of a team. But the scary thing was that you knew a BILLION people were going to watch it!!!! Writing for the opening ceremony was wonderful because I was working with really really brilliant people like Danny Boyle, Richard Smith, Suttirat LarLarb and Mark Tildesley.
How old were you when you started writing? Do you agree that writers feel compelled to write and can’t do anything else?
It hit me in Year Six that whatever I did - whether it was be an astronaut or be a bin man - I would want to write about it. I didn’t really have a Plan B after that.
A lot of your books have a son/dad relationship in them. Did you use your own relationship with your dad when you were writing your books?
I suppose so. The funny thing about writing is that sometimes you think you’re writing about space or an art robbery and then when it’s finally published you realise it was about you. I love being a father.
You have written a series of spin offs to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which was written by Ian Fleming who wrote the James Bond novels. Did you read the Charlie Higson Bond books before you started? Why did you decide to write Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and not James Bond? Was it easy to copy the writing style of Ian Fleming?
I didn’t try to imitate Ian Fleming because I had this wonderful piece of luck. I found out that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a real car!! It was built in the 1920s by a fantastically attractive and eccentric character called Count Zborowski (he’s in my books). Fleming saw the car race when he was a child. That’s what inspired him to write his books. So I just wrote different books about the same car. I was more interested in Chitty than in Bond because Chitty is funny!
What advice would you give to anyone who wants to write a novel?
Two things: First, read, read, read, read read. And second, live, live, live, live, live (with your eyes and ears open).
Why did you put religious ideas into into your book Millions? Did you want to engage young readers in the idea of saints? When during the writing of Millions did you realise you had written a book about saints?
When I was writing Millions, a friend of mine was dying. Everyone kept calling the nurses “angels” or “saints” and it started me thinking about saints. I realised that although everyone knows the names (because we name schools and hospitals and skin complaints and stations after them), everyone had forgotten the stories. I thought – oh, I can have all those stories for my book! They’re such great stories. And of course I’m a Catholic so there’s nothing unusual for me about talking to saints.
Your books contain a mix of the surreal and the ordinary, and a mix of comedy and realism. What made you include the Ninja turtles and superheroes into your books?
To me, leaving comics and TV and movies out of books is like leaving food out of them. They’re part of our lives. They’re part of how we make sense of things.
Where do you get your ideas from? Do you finish one book and start the next, or do you have several ideas in your head at the same time?
I keep a notebook with lots of ideas. At least it looks like a lot of ideas until you start writing and then you find the book has gobbled them up after about 10 pages. I still write films and stuff as well so sometimes an idea can pop up in two or three different ways.
What is your next book going to be about?
My next book is called The Astounding Broccoli Boy and it’s about a boy who one day - out of the blue - finds that he has turned bright green!
Are you rich?
I do what I love doing all day. You can’t get richer than that!
What do you think of the way reading is taught in schools? Did you ever think of being a teacher yourself?
No I never thought of being a teacher. But I do visit a lot of schools. I worry that there’s not enough space in schools to really enjoy books and take pleasure in reading.
What are you reading at the moment? What YA writers do you admire?
I am reading Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, which is really brilliant. I like a lot of YA. I loved SF Said’s Phoenix. Piers Torday’s Wild books and Katherine Rundell’s Rooftoppers.
Where did the idea for your newest book, The Astounding Broccoli Boy, come from?
A boy who turns green and thinks he is a superhero – where did that come from?
Did you know how the Broccoli Boy was going to finish when you started it?
I had no idea how it was going to finish!!! Or if it ever would as it took me so long to write it!!! In the book Rory turns green. That came from two different places. First of all I have a blood disorder that sometimes makes me turn bright yellow. I don’t really notice myself until people start staring at me in the street or refusing to let me into their restaurants. So that’s quite personal. But there’s also this very beautiful and strange haunting medieval story about two green children who just appeared one day in a village called Woolpit. No one can explain where they came from.
Can you explain the editing process? For example, what input does your editor give you? Is it fun working with publishers?
Every writer does things differently. My editor is Sarah Dudman. She’s amazing and I trust her completely. If I’m not sure about something, I’ll send it to her and she’ll tell me straight away if it’s good or not. I start sending her scenes and ideas almost as soon as I’ve written them down. My cherished dream that one day I’ll present her with a finished book tied up with ribbons. But so far I’ve never had the confidence to get right through to the end without asking her how I’m doing. The other important editors are my two youngest children and my wife.
Which writers have inspired you?
Edith Nesbit (especially Five Children and It), Tove Jansson (the Moomin books), Ursula le Guin (A Wizard of Earthsea) and of course Richmal Crompton (Just William). I’ve just realised they are all women.
What have you enjoyed writing most over your career?
I find writing books really really hard. I really struggle. But for some reason the book I’m writing now is just pouring out of my pen. It’s running away with me. I wake up every morning wondering what it’s going to do next!
Do you write for yourself or do you write with the audience in mind and ask yourself what they might want to read?
I read aloud a lot in schools. There’s one school in Liverpool that I visit quite a lot. I can see their faces in my head. When I’m writing, I’m always thinking - will they get this? Will they laugh at that? Because there’s nothing worse than reading something out and not getting a reaction.
Your books are often about people doing good or extraordinary things. Do you want to inspire young people to find their inner hero?
I think everyone is amazing in their own way and the great happiness in life is finding your own amazingness.
I love your characters’ names – where did you get Rory Rooney and Grim Kommissky, Dr Brightside and Nurse Rock from?
OOooohh. That’s so kind. I really struggle with names. I’m so so so glad yo like those.
In Broccoli Boy, the dad has a collection of superhero comics. Did your dad collect anything?
Not really but I never threw out any of my old comics. So I was probably writing about myself without noticing again. These were fantastic questions. Thank you for asking me.