Files and folders

I spoke to Chris Riddell today. He and Paul Stewart have returned from their UK tour. Chris is always full of enthusiasm for what he is doing and always eager to know what I'm up to. Usually, a lot less than he is.

So what is the next stage of a book - what comes after thoughts and notebooks? Anything half decent from the notebooks quickly becomes a file on my computer. There is a file titled The Jet Brooch (see last post). These files cluster together into folders. There was (and still is) an Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror folder. The same for the Black Ship and Tunnel's Mouth.

In these folders are more stories than I ever use in the books. There are stories that for one reason or another I just felt needed to be bedded down for a little longer. If I have a story that I like I want it to be the best I can make it or I would rather wait until I can fix whatever bothers me about it. And so there is a Tales of Terror 4 folder filled with these spare stories that need a tweak of some kind.

The story that provides the setting for each of the Tales of Terror books has been the one I have most enjoyed writing. This is because it really develops as the book develops. The short stories have characters that make fleeting appearances, but Uncle Montague and Edgar, Ethan and Cathy in the Black Ship and Robert in Tunnel's Mouth are more rounded characters that hopefully grow as you read the book and get to know them. It is vital to me that the device of having a narrator and a storyteller does not become simply a contrivance. I want that story to be just as strong as the others.

This wraparound story is the key to the book and it is this plus a couple of the other stories that I showed to Bloomsbury to give an idea of how the book would end up. With Uncle Montague I more or less wrote the whole thing first, but because there is a format now, I can write the rest of the book under contract (and the accompanying deadline of course).

This process of thought-notebook-file-folder is the same in a novel like The Dead of Winter. It is just that whereas I was writing notes about individual stories, the notes where more to do with the solving the problems of a sustained narrative, so there were notes about characters and locations and what I would call the stand-out scenes - the ones that move the story on and need to be spot on. These scenes are the ones you hope are going to stick in your reader's mind.

April fool

I received another package from Bloomsbury today. This time it was three copies of the Japanese edition of Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror. I had one advance copy of the book a while back, but I can't have enough of these: they look so great.

Neil Gaiman is so famous that people have been writing April Fool's pieces just about him. Check them out on his blog (listed on the left). The Guardian's April Fool was so lame this year that I wondered why they felt the need to bother.

Speaking of Neil Gaiman, Coraline the movie is out soon in the UK. I was looking at the trailer the other day and though it looks fun and seems to be very well done, it isn't weird like the book. I mean there are weird things in it, obviously. But the way it is done is not weird in itself. Coraline had a brilliant nightmare feel about it. I'm not sure this movie is going to do that justice.



I think I was seeing something much more like Jan Svankmajer's Alice in my head. Although I can readily accept that it would not have been a very commercial way to go. . .

Oi! That's my cover!

Someone left a comment on the blog today telling me that the cover for Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror was being used for another book entirely in Italy. I couldn't believe that they could possibly be right, but it turns out that they are.


The book in question is Gli Incubi di Hazel by Leander Deeny, published as Hazel's Phantasmagoria here in the UK, with a cover, like Uncle Monty, illustrated by David Roberts . It is published in Italy by Newton Compton; in the UK by Quercus. Curious, huh?

Why or how this strange state of affairs came about I have not as yet discovered. When I find out, I'll let you know.

Paperback black ship

The post brought two packges from Bloomsbury this morning: one contained three copies of the Swedish edition of Uncle Montague Tales of Terror, the other some proofs of the paperback cover for Tales of Terror from the Black Ship.

The cover is the same as for the hardback, but with a nice quote from the Independent on Sunday. It is out this coming October.

Swedish tales of terror

I think I'm right in saying that the Swedish edition of Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror is published today by Raben and Sjogren, which is great. I haven't seen a copy yet, but I hope I will soon.

I have been going through the proofs for Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth yet again. I am still finding errors, so it is worth doing. But Isabel Ford got in touch from Bloomsbury today asking if I'd finished with them, so I need to get them sorted once and for all. I'll quickly get to the end, then write up all the errors and changes and get them back to her.

Then I will be able to devote all my time to new stuff. I am working on a synopsis for Bloomsbury and once I have that done I will write a couple of chapters. I am also working on some short stories I have had rattling round in my head for some time. They are very different from the Tales of Terror stories. I will tell you more about them another time.

Of course, if I am the only person who thinks there is any value in these stories, you may never hear about them again.

One last tinker

I finally got the revisions to the ms of my new novel for Bloomsbury finished and sent off. There is always a feeling of relief tied to a desire to just have one more look and one last tinker. . .

But I promised I would have it back by the end of the month and I am always pleased to hit a deadline.

So what is it about, this novel? Well, as I have already said, it is set in the Victorian period and is about a boy called Michael Vyner who is orphaned and becomes the ward of a rich man - Sir Stephen Clarendon - whose life his father saved (at the expense of his own). The book follows Michael's visit at Christmas to his guardian's moated manor house in the fens - a grim and mysterious house called Hawton Mere.

Now I have a few moments to relax and then I have to get on and check the proofs of Tales from the Tunnel's Mouth. I saw the cover David has done when I saw Sarah Odedina the other day and it looks great - his best Tales of Terror cover yet, I think.

And I got an email from Ian Lamb telling about another award shortlisting for Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror. But more about that next week. . .

Pink and purple and read all over

The Japanese edition of Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror turned up today, courtesy of Rironsha. It looks great. The cover has a pink tint to it, but opens onto purple endpapers and then a bright red title page. I like it a lot.

And pint-sized pub singer Duffy has had great success at the Brit Awards. The Guardian tells me that she has been compared to Dusty Springfield. Hmmm. Yes - that surprised me, too. But on closer inspection, their names are almost identical. Duffy. Dusty. Uncanny, really.

They certainly couldn't have meant vocally. Dusty Springfield had a voice that is rich and accomplished and yet also heart-breakingly fragile.

While Duffy has a voice that sounds like a bluebottle trapped under a glass.

Gooseberries

Valentine's Day. As usual my wife and I enjoyed a traditional romantic dinner for three. When you have children, you grow your own gooseberries - if you see what I mean.

I forgot to mention that news of a couple of foreign editions came through this week. Rironsha have published Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror in Japan. It came out last November. They are sending a couple of copies to Bloomsbury so I hope I'll see one soon. I am very excited about that. The Japanese have a great understanding of horror and things creepy so I take the fact that they are publishing one of my books as a great compliment.

I am also delighted that Raben & Sjogren are publishing Uncle Monty in Sweden very shortly. I am hoping for success in both these countries. I have not been to either country and would very much like to. So, come on - buy those books!

Raben & Sjogren sent a PDF of the cover. I'm intrigued by the fact that they have shrunk Edgar. . .

War stories for boys

Ian Lamb got in contact from Bloomsbury yesterday to tell me that Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror has been nominated for yet another award. It has been shortlisted for the Calderdale Children's Book of the Year, which is great news. Thanks to all concerned.

I also forgot to mention that Scholastic sent me a proof of their cover for War Stories for Boys - a compendium of some of the My Story series - including my Battle of Britain book. It is due out next March.

Something tells me they may have to do something about that black on black type before then. . .

NB: Apologies to the designers of War Stories for Boys. They did not have black on black type. That was an anomaly created when I scanned the cover in and I was obviously reacting to that image rather than the actual thing. The type is very clearly metallic gold in the actual thing. and perfectly legible.

Carnegie Medal

Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror has been longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. I was told about this by Sarah Odedina the other day but thought I shouldn't pre-empt the announcement by the CILIP. Congratulations to Celia Rees for her nomination for Sovay. If you want to see the other books on the list and those up for the Kate Greenaway, then go to the site and have a look.

I went to Will Hill's private view at Clare Hall this evening, cycling through the drizzle with my son. Will's work was great and what a nice gallery. Martin Salisbury was there and it is always good to catch up with him. We were comparing our trips to South America. Martin went to Venezuela with the British Council some time ago. We both seem to have come back with the same frustration at not having seen more. We'll both just have to go back.

It was good to see Lisa Kirkham there, though she sounds completely snowed under with work - a victim of her own success it seems (or her inability - shared with most freelancers - to say no). Lisa is a typographer and designer and absolutely passionate about (and hugely knowledgable about) children's books. She doesn't have a website so I can't send you her way, sadly - although she was telling me that Peter's blog is attracting notice. I'm not surprised. As I've said before - it's great.

Uncle Montague speaks many languages

It has been a good few days for Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror. Last week Sarah Odedina contacted me from Bloomsbury to say that the Russians want to buy the rights to publish there, and today it was the turn of Spain. So far Uncle Montague has been bought by Holland, Colombia, Brazil, Japan, Sweden, Poland and Thailand - in addition to Bloomsbury's US and German editions.

I have some more exciting news about Uncle Montague, but that will have to wait until Thursday.

De Verschrikkelijke Verhalen van Oom M

So I didn't make the shortlist for the Lincolnshire Young People's Book award. To see the shortlist follow the link. This is the second time I've been longlisted without going further. Maybe next time.

We went to Wicken Fen today on a lovely crisp autumn day. It is one of my favourite places within easy reach of Cambridge. It is so peaceful - even with the odd yelling kid here and there. It is also a potentially spooky setting too - with all those reeds whispering in the breeze.

And the Dutch edition of Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror arrived today. The publisher is Pimento and they really have spent some time making it a very handsome edition, reworking the original cover very cleverly in a hardback that keeps all of David Roberts' illustrations.

Some questions and answers from my sessions in Rio

Q: Will you set a story in Rio de Janeiro?

A: Yes I will. Setting is a very important part of writing a story for me. I often think 'I would like to set a story here' without having any specific idea of what that story will be. A good setting - real or imaginary - brings a story alive. You have to believe in the location, both as reader and writer, as it is the stage on which all the action takes place. I like to set my creepy stories in places I have actually visited because it helps me to visual and therefore describe it. These places do not have to be creepy in themselves - or not in an obvious, spooky old graveyard kind of a way. Some places just inspire me to write. Rio is such a place. When you have a story to write, try setting it in a familiar location one time. You will be surprised at how easy much of the writing will be once you have the setting sorted out in your mind.

Q: Where do you get you ideas from?

A: From every book I've read, movie I've seen, place I've been, dream I've had, event I've witnessed, experience I've had or heard about from other people. But though ideas are important they are often ideas for scenes or themes, rather than ideas for the story. An idea might be something like 'A boy who goes to a school where they train wizards', but the resulting story might by Harry Potter or the very different A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin. Don't get too hung up on ideas. Often it is better to think about the type of story you want to write, the kind of characters you would like to write about, the location or even the theme - then ideas might start suggesting themselves. Write a story that excites you and then the chances are it will excite the reader. Bore yourself and you will bore your poor reader. If a teacher sets a story, try and pull it towards something you find exciting or interesting. It will be easier to write and it will be more fun to read.

Q: How long does it take to write a book?

A: Not surprisingly it depends on the length of the book. There may be three or four months of writing, but that might come after two or three years of kicking ideas around in my head. Some of the stories in Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror have been in notebooks for nearly thirty years. Historical fiction takes longer because of the research. And after it is written, there is then the equally important editing process. You need to get into the habit of doing this yourself. School children have a reluctance to change things - but that is a vital part of writing. All writers make changes. Don't see it as correcting mistakes - see it as fine-tuning an engine to make it work better or weeding a garden to make it look more beautiful.

Q: When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer?

A: I wrote a short story called 'Journey to the Moon' when I was about 8 or 9 and entered it in a newspaper competition and won a medal (which I still have). It was then that I told my teacher that I wanted to write and illustrate my own book when I grew up. It took me another 30 years or so to actually achieve this! I did do it though. If you have a dream - to be a writer or a footballer or a ballet dancer - then try not to give up on it.

Q: How do you think of names for a character?

A: Naming characters is a tricky thing. People in real life just have the names they were given, but in a story names seem to become part of their character. Writers like Dickens exploit this by giving their characters names that seem to be descriptive - Scrooge for instance. An easy way to save time and find believable names is by grabbing the nearest telephone directory or turning to the index of a non-fiction book. You can simply use a name as it is or mix two names. The characters in my strip cartoon (Payne's Grey) are all named after small towns and villages in England - Brampton Bryan, Lownie Moor, Much Dewhurst, Gradely Green etc.

Q: I have an idea for a story but I don't seem to be able to get started. Do you have any tips?

A: Writers have different views on planning a story, but I think when you are learning to write it is a good idea to have some structure before you set off, even if you discard it as you go. The longer the piece, the more this helps. The shorter a piece, the more tightly plotted it tends to be. Ask yourself - What are the stand-out scenes in my story? How will it start? Where will it end? Who is in my cast of characters? How will the character or characters be changed by the events in my story? Does my story have a theme - is it about bullying or friendship, say - and is that going to come through? If you still can't get started, try writing something else - a different kind of story - and see if that helps. The more you write the easier it will become. Don't get too attached to ideas - maybe the reason you can't get started is because your idea is not a good one. It is better to accept that before you write your huge novel!

Q: How do you make a scary scene work?

A: The rules for making a scary scene are similar to making any scene work - the preparation has to be in place. A common technique in horror is to crank up the tension, then relax the reader, then - bang - you hit them with the scary scene. But just like a joke is not just about the punchline, but about how we get to the punchline, don't make the mistake of thinking it is enough to have a gory scene. If you haven't prepared the reader it will not work. Besides, gory can just be revolting rather than scary. Sometimes it is more scary to lead the reader into a dark room and let them hear something scuffling about, or let them see something out of the corner of their eye than to show them a headless body (though that can be scary too, of course).

Q: How do you write action?

A: To carry on with the answer from the last question, a lot about how a scene reads is in the way it is written. Fast action is going to read that way if the sentences and paragraphs are short, for instance. Think about the sound of the words too. But just as with scary scenes, a story that is all action with no rests will be exhausting. Read your story out loud. Do this whatever you write. Does it sound right? If it sounds wrong, the chances are it will read wrong. Is that sentence too long to say comfortably. Is it slowing the action down? Is the dialogue believable? Is it clear what's going on? Don't use more words than you need to, but make sure they are the right ones for the job.

Q: Do you think of the beginning to a story first and work through?

A: Rarely. Often with creepy stories, it is the ending that comes first and the story is all about how we get there. But the start of a story is massively important. You need to grab the reader's attention and make them want to read on. The quicker you can establish your character/s and what kind of story it is, the better. Dickens' opening line in A Christmas Carol is a good example:

Marley was dead: to begin with.

He has introduced a character, set the mood and grabbed our attention - all with six words.

Q: Lots of books I read seem to get bogged down with detail. How do you stop this happening?

A: I'm not sure I always get that balance right myself. Detail is a problem when writing historical fiction. Not enough and the period you are writing about will not seem convincing; too much and you will bore the reader and make them feel you are giving them a history lesson. Clearly if a book has too much detail it will get tiring to read, but usually stories by school children do not have enough. There is a reluctance to write more than is absolutely necessary, despite the fact that it is detail that often makes a story convincing. Try not to 'tell' the reader what is happening or what a character is feeling, try to 'show' this in the story. Obviously make sure your detail is contributing to the story and not detracting from it. But don't assume that we are going to know that Mary is tall and thin, or the house has arched windows, if you don't tell us. The more important something is to the story, the more precise you have to be with the detail. The more fantastic the world you create, the more help we will need as a reader.

Botafogo

Today I am in the Botafogo site of the British School in Rio, the orginal and oldest part of the school. I am being looked after by Raquel and Frederico who are dressed as Cleopatra and Dracula respectively, because they are having a costume day today when the children and staff have dressed up as characters from books or from history. I met Fred on Monday when we all went for a drink, but I have not met Raquel before today. She, like all the librarians here, is very friendly and supportive and she is so passionate about books and her library. It`s great.

Last night I went to Merche's bookshop - the Jamer Bookshop - and signed the stock of Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror. Then we went to see Kiss Me Kate, the school production at Urca. I have to say I was not overly enthusiastic about going to a school production, but it was incredibly well done. The singing in particular was fantastic. I was really impressed.

I came in with Merche today. She has been fantastic, driving me all over Rio and looking after me. We got back late though, so it was a bit of a shock to the sytem to wake up this morning after not quite enough sleep. But it was worth it just to see sunshine. There had been a rosy sunset last night and I was glad to see that the old 'red sky at night, shepherd's delight' thing applied in the suthern hemisphere. It is a lovely morning.

It is my last day here in Rio, so I plan to meet Mimi at Urca later and go up Sugar Loaf as I missed it yesterday.

Rain again

Today I am back at the Urca site of the British School in Rio, sitting at the base of the Sugar Loaf. I am sitting in the library looking across the bay towards the Cristo, which was there a moment ago, but which is has now disappeared beneath a layer of cloud. It is pouring with rain!

The last time I was here the weather was glorious but I did not have a camera. Today I have the camera but it somehow does not look quite so spectacular. Something tells me my trip up Sugar Loaf this afternoon is not going to happen.

I was sorry to leave Barra yesterday. I thought it was a really lovely school with a fantastic atmosphere. And Viviane Silva is such a great librarian. She really cares about that library and about the children who go there. She was so enthusiastic.

Having said that, this is a great library too. It is very modern and seems very well used. I am being looked after by Celia Breder and Jaqueline Silva (no relation to Viviane or President Silva - it is just the most common name here, apparently) as before. I'm not sure whether I'll see Mimi today. Celia and Jacqueline are great. They have made me feel so welcome here. They are so friendly, and have a good sense of humour.

Yesterday I was doing specific talks about specific writing issues. Today I am giving more general writing talks centred around Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror. I have another three groups to see today, one of which, again, is very large. Tomorrow at the Botofolgo site where I have four groups of 40+!

I may get to Merche's bookshop - the Jamer bookshop - today and sign some of the stock of Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror and I think Merche has asked for Livraria de Travessa's stock of Contos de Terror do Tio Montague to sign as well.

And speaking of which - Frini's newspaper article is pinned on the notice board. That was very exciting. Thanks again Frini.

Back at Barra

It was very frustrating to have such a short time in the Botanical Gardens yesterday. The beaches here are incredible, but it is the nature here that I find really fascinating. There are plants growing wild in the streets that would be in a a hot house in England. I would love to have a chance to walk up into the rain forest that comes into Rio. Maybe I will yet. If not, I'll have to behave myself and hope I am invited back.

Today I am back at the Barra site. I am seeing another four groups (one of which seems to have 40 children in it - so that ought to be interesting!). I am talking about historical fiction, mystery writing and horror writing, using The White Rider, Redwulf's Curse and Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror respectively). It is a lovely sunny morning, though Viviane tells me it may rain later.

Tomorrow I am back at the Urca site at the base of Sugar Loaf, and Mimi Liang is going to take me up to the top. You get there in two stages, by cable car. I have a fear of heights, so it is going to be an interesting trip in more than one way, as I may disgrace myself by collapsing into a foetal position and gibbering.

I forgot to mention that they are doing a really great activity here for book week. It is called DEAR - standing for Drop Everything And Read. At break time, Viviane wanders round the school with a whistle and when she blows it, the children have to drop what they are doing, pick up a book and read. It is such a brilliant idea and not one I have ever knowingly come across before.

I also forgot to mention that the other person who turned up at the Livraria de Travesso launch of Contos de Terror do Tio Montague, was Frini Georgakopoulos, the journalist who sent me the Q&A I mentioned several posts back. It was great to meet her and she was so enthusiastic.

Contos de Terror do Tio Montague

An enormous jiffy bag full of paperbacks of Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror arrived today. I love boxes/bags of books. I am looking forward to seeing the various translated versions of Uncle Monty. So far I have only seen the US and Spanish Latin American editions.

The Rocco edition I will be promoting in Rio is called Contos de Terror do Tio Montague. I will be signing copies at 4 pm on Sunday 28 September at the Livraria da Travessa in Ipanema. I have looked on the bookshops website, and there I am!

Q&A

I actually bought my running shoes today after running on a treadmill and having my feet videoed until we found a shoe that worked for me. I had to run in a neutral shoe, then in each of three others and then take each of them for a spin around the car park. I was exhausted by the time I bought them and wondering whether this running lark was really for me.


I received a series of questions passed on to me from Adriana Sardinha at Rocco from a Brazilian newspaper called Folha de Sao Paulo. Here they are with the answers I gave:

1) I read that the idea for Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror came from hide and seek, and the mixture of anxiety of getting caught and the sound of your own breath as you hid. That was a very impressive and yet simple and relatable way to put it to your readers, from every age group. But why did you choose to write for children specifically? Or did they choose you?

The idea for one of the stories in that collection – A Ghost Story – came in part from games of hide and seek, but I definitely think the collection for children came from knowing that children like to be scared (as long as they know it is not for real). I have had some books published for children already and some of them had a supernatural element to them. I was asked to come up with some scary stories for young children and could not think of any I wanted to write. I had lots of ideas for scary stories for adults, and simply changed the main character to a child. Then I wrote some more and found that they came quite easily to me. I think I will probably write for adults as well one day.

2) Uncle Montague Tales of Terror is supposed to be reading material for young readers, but some tales and themes are really scary, even for an older audience. Did you ever think about writing for that age group?

I did not think about whether something was too scary. I was imagining that the bulk of the readers would be 12 and above and so I think by that age they are already having access to scary stuff – video games, movies etc. But I wanted to do something I did not think was being done quite as much. I wanted to do chilling stories – stories that were not so much about blood and violence as about shadows and things half seen.

3) When did you first think about being a writer?

When I was about 8 I remember telling my teacher that I wanted to be a writer. I entered a short story competition and won a medal. I think I have always wanted to be a writer, but I was distracted from doing that for many years by my career as a cartoonist and illustrator. I have always written though, long before I was published.

4) How do you get the ideas for characters and situations for your books?

From everything I have ever read, movies I have seen, TV, stories friends have told me, things that have happened to me, dreams, paintings – just about anything and everything I have ever seen or heard or done. Writing is all about bringing all these things that are floating round in your head into some kind of coherent form. Sometimes idea just flash into my head. Sometimes it takes years of chewing over something that does not quite work – then one day – bang – it all just fits into place.

5) What inspires you?

All the above. Good writing of any kind. Other children’s authors, but mainly adult authors. Movies, old and new. My son is 11, so he inspires me as he is the kind of child I often write for. Sometimes bad writing inspires me. I think – ‘I could do better than that!’

6) I read in your blog about your “relationship” with Stephen King. In your post you said that, now that you are a writer, being popular would be a good thing. Do you consider yourself popular? Do you believe that popularity like that of King or J K Rowling would be a good or bad thing for your work as a writer?

I would be very happy to sell more books. That would not be a problem for me. But you must never think that being popular is the same as being good. People will buy or watch or read or listen to, the strangest things. But I have never believed that just because someone is popular their work must therefore not be any good. Dickens was a popular writer. It is possible to be a very good writer and to be popular. But likewise it is possible to be an excellent writer and not sell at all. All writers can do is write the best books they can.

7) Who are your favorite writers and why?

There are just too many to mention really. There are so many fantastic writers writing for children at the moment. I very much enjoyed Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines books. I’m reading Ray Bradbury short stories – or rather re-reading them. Bradbury is great. I’m also reading Wilkie Collins The Woman in White. I am a big fan of Cormac McCarthy. Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections was great. I just re-read Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. I like all kinds of stuff. I suppose a common theme is that I like to see the writer at work. A lot of readers don’t want that – they want the story to be the thing. I like people like McCarthy, Calvino, Kafka, Bradbury – writers who really have a particular voice. Dickens too of course. And Raymond Chandler – he’s great. Edward Gorey too of course.

8) I also read in your website that you a lot of movies and books inspired you in creating your stories. What are some of your favorite books and movies? Why?

That’s hard. David Copperfield is a favourite that I re-read recently. The David Lean movie of that book is also great. Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses was a book I really loved. Treasure Island and Kidnapped are fantastic. R L Stevenson is a big hero. Kafka’s The Trial. Crime and Punishment. Camus The Outsider. I loved to Kill a Mocking Bird when I read it as a teenager. And The Catcher in the Rye. The ghost stories of M R James. The short stories of Poe. Raymond Carver. This could go on and on.

Movies? Again – there are so many. I love Kurosawa – Roshomon and The Seven Samurai particularly. Scorcese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull – and Mean Streets. The Maltese Falcon. Pulp Fiction. Woody Allen’s great films – Annie Hall for instance. Fritz Lang. John Ford westerns. But movies that are particularly inspiring for this book. The Innocents – a version of Henry James The Turn of the Screw was in my mind a lot. The Poe adaptations of Roger Corman. The RKO and Universal horror movies – Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein etc. Nick Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. The Tenant and Repulsion. Lots of movies really. Cocteau – The Blood of the Poet and Beauty and the Beast. Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands.

As with books – I like films that have a style about them. Kurosawa is a genius. David Lean films are beautifully shot – his David Copperfield is fantastic. The early horror films were an inspiration for some of the stories – more in the feel of them than anything. I imagined Uncle Montague to be someone like Boris Karloff or Vincent Price. I think I saw the scenes with Edgar and Uncle Montague as being shot like one of those great old American horror movies.

I think I also see the scenes in my books in my head like films and then try to write in such a way that it conveys what I see – not just what I see, but the mood of what I’m seeing.

9) Do you think that being an illustrator has helped your work as a writer? How so?

I’m not sure it has helped particularly, but it has probably shaped the way I write. I tend to keep ideas books like I do with my drawings, and then work them up and up until there is a clear idea and then work away in sections, building the whole thing up until I’m satisfied that it is finished.

10) When you started writing, did you ever dreamed of publishing something in Portuguese? How has this experience been for you?

No I never dreamed of being published in Portuguese, but I am very happy that I am. I’m hoping to find it a really good experience but I won’t really have a feel for it until I get to Brazil. It has not really affected me much yet.

11) What do you hope your readers will get from the experience of reading your books?

I hope first and foremost that they will enjoy the book. After that, I hope that some of the images might stay with them. I hope they might like it enough to recommend me to a friend and to buy another of my books. I hope that one or two readers might – as I did when I read Ray Bradbury and Philip K Dick – think, hey – maybe I might be able to do this as well.

12) What are your next projects?

I have just delivered the third in the Tales of Terror series – Tales of Terror from the Tunnel’s Mouth – and that will come out in the UK in October 2009. I am busy writing a creepy novel for Bloomsbury called Ghosts (although that title will change when it is published I think)

13) Any tips for aspiring writers? For readers?

Well – for writers, they should read as much as possible. And learn to read critically. Try to think why you liked a book so much. What was the writer doing that another writer was not? Then try and write well as much as you can. Even if you are writing an email, try to write it well – make the phrases pleasing to read. Write some short stories or reports or reviews of something you’ve seen or read. Make the projects small enough that you finish them and don’t get put off. Practice writing stories that go somewhere – that have a real ending and don’t just fade out. If you see a competition – enter it. Someone has to win – it might be you.

For readers, it is much the same. Just read and read and read. Don’t give up on books because you read a bad one and got bored. There are millions of books out there. There is something for everybody. And books are one of the few art forms that really can change your life. I know I am a different person for having read the books I’ve read.

Enormously alone

I spent most of yesterday on the touchline watching my son playing in a football tournament. His team came fifth. Or second last, depending on how you look at it. Today I delivered the amended version of tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth to Sarah Odedina at Bloomsbury. That will be it now until we move to the final fine-tuning stage.

And I finally got to speak to Merche. She called from Rio to make contact and ask if I could get Bloomsbury to send her some copies of the new books - the hardback of Tales of Terror from the Black Ship, and the paperback of Uncle Montague. She is also going to make contact with Adriana Sardinha from Rocco and liaise with her about a possible bookshop event to promote the Portuguese edition of Uncle Montague. I'm really looking forward to it.

I bought a compilation of Ray Bradbury stories when we were in London. The dismally dull cover hides work of genius. There is no other writer quite like him. He tells stories that are more like modern folk tales than sci-fi. He is like Kafka: a genre in himself. If you have never read Bradbury, go and buy something - though he is shockingly underpublished for someone who is so often mentioned as a major inspiration. He is a writer's writer.

But don't let that put you off.

There are some great stories in here. The Fog Horn is fantastic. And there are a couple with children as the main protagonists - the creepy Fever Dream, and the wonderful Hail and Farewell about a boy who does not grow up - that I may try out on my son and see what he makes of them. He just writes so well. I love this line from The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse:

Garvey and his wife had lived enormously alone for twenty years.

Five O

So I'm fifty. I said farewell to my forties on Monday with a trip to the Tate Modern to see the Cy Twombly exhibition. I never ever saw myself getting to fifty. In fact I'm not sure I ever saw myself getting to forty. It feels strange.

We had tried to get away from dull old England but failed. In the end we went to London for a long weekend. We stayed at the Goodenough Club in Bloomsbury and treated ourselves to a suite. It was my first visit to the Goodenough, but it certainly won't be my last.

We crammed quite a lot into out trip. We went to the Hammershoi exhibition at the Royal Academy, which was lovely in a quiet and austere kind of way. You could almost hear the clocks ticking and the rattle of carriage wheels on the cobbles outside. Lots of women looking out of windows or reading unseen books. Interiors are already intimate, but the presence of someone viewed from behind seems to make them even more so. Lovely paintings, if a little sad.

Cy Twombly at Tate Modern was a different kettle of fish altogether. My son found the Hammershois difficult because they were so muted, but found Twombly even more so. He was like the little boy in the Emperor's New Suit of Clothes, saying 'More scribbles' every now and then.

And do you know sometimes he was right, I think. Sometimes there just isn't enough there. But when there is - as in the Four Seasons paintings, they are fantastic. Just like at the Doig show a while back, I came away very much inspired to get back to my own paintings.

We saw Prince Caspian, which was not nearly so bad as I thought it might be. I have mentioned some of my thoughts about C S Lewis elsewhere, but this was not a book I knew. Hellboy II was a lot better though. The imagination behind the look of the monsters was very inspiring. The winged Death figure was especially good, I thought. I made a mental note to push things a bit more. The only downside was one of the elements of the film is almost identical to an element in one of the stories in Tales from the Tunnel's Mouth. But there you go; it will look like I've copied Hellboy, but it was written ages before. Honest.

We spent our last morning in Westminster Abbey which was a little exhausting. Too many tombs. It looks like a salvage yard sometimes, there are so many indifferent Victorian statues vying for attention. The tomb of the unknown soldier is easily the most moving, lying quietly, albeit garlanded in poppies. The anonymity seems particularly striking and poignant among all the me, me, me of all those names.

But the medieval parts are still fresh. The Chapter House is lovely, as are the royal tombs. There are some incredibly inventive miserichords. The ancient throne is great. It would have been good to see Edward the Confessor's tomb, but there is not general access to it. The famous Cosmati Pavement was being restored - although, to be honest after Venice and Rome, it did not seem quite so amazing as all that.

I came back to lots of emails. One from Francis Mosley giving me more reasons to be cheerful (after having sent him a list of reasons why I have been miserable). And there was some cheer to be had elsewhere. The British School in Rio was in touch with my timetable (which looks fun but exhausting). I am in Brazil from 27 September to 4 October and coincidentally, Rocco who are publishing Uncle Montague's tales of Terror in Brazil, also got in touch to see if I can do an event for them whilst I'm over. I have to admit that it is all very exciting.