Changes

MW: I'm so glad you like Verity! I was very keen that she shouldn't be too perfect. I wanted her to have flaws. Verity and Henry have always been very clear in my head as people. As, in fact, are many of the characters (I have a particular soft spot for both Jasper and Miranda). Verity just sort of appears on the page in front of me, so she's incredibly easy to write. As are the conversations between her and Henry, which always feel as if I can hear them talking to each other.

MW: No comment on Grandmother! But she is terrifying isn't she? Wellow is a fictional combination of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight (where I grew up) and Southwold, a town in Suffolk near where I now live. In my funny little head it’'s all kind of smerged together, but it makes sense to me. I have scribbled maps of where everything is, what direction the prevailing winds are, and that sort of thing. I think having a clear picture of Wellow in my mind did help: it becomes one less thing to worry about if you know exactly where everything is.