I Would Hate To Live In The

But I Don't Write About Sex For Today's Teenagers. Or Doc Martens Boots Either. I'm More Interested In Exploring How Exactly The World Is Run, Which Doesn't Really Change That Much From One Generation To Another.

The Kind Of Response I Hope For When I Write My Novels For Children: To Give Them A Chance To Recognize Something Of Their Own Feelings -- About Themselves, Their Parents, Their Friends -- And Their Own Situation As A Kind Of Subject Race, Always At The Mercy Of The Adults Who Mostly Run Their Lives For Them.

I've Never Found It Made The Slightest Difference Being A Woman - Though There Is A Sort Of Feeling That As You Get Older You're Not So Interesting.

I Grew Up On A Suburban Street With Lace Curtains And Dull Neighbours, So I Made Up Stories To Tell My Friend, In Which They Became Serial Killers And Burglars. She Told Her Mother, Who Then Told Mine.

I Like Stirring The Pot - I Think It's Part Of My Duty, To Shake People Up A Bit - Make Them Look At Things In A Different Way.