If You Lose Your Purpose ... It's

My House Had Suddenly Turned Into A Hospital Ward.

But I'm A Fairly Mechanical Worker - I Tend Not To Think About Themes So Much As Plot. I Want To Get The Feeling Right. If It's Moving Through Tunnels, I Ask Myself, What Is It Like To Move Through Tunnels?

Time Can Play All Sorts Of Tricks On You. In The Blink Of An Eye, Babies Appear In Carriages, Coffins Disappear Into The Ground, Wars Are Won And Lost, And Children Transform, Like Butterflies, Into Adults.

I Can Draw Pencil Lines To Show Something Is Moving, But If I'm Writing, I Struggle With How To Write It. The Boy Ran Down The Hallway? The Boy Ran Quickly Down The Hallway? The Boy Ran Down The Marble Hallway? I Agonize Over The Words. So My Editor Works Very Hard. I'm Lucky To Have Her.

I Guess I See A Part Of Myself In Everyone I Write About. I Tend To Write About Kids Who Are Obsessed With Something, And Even Though I Have Never Been Good With Machines The Way Hugo Is, I Did Love Miniature Things When I Was A Kid.