“I was on a train from Manchester to London when I came up with the idea for Harry Potter.

The train was delayed, and as I sat there, all the details of a black-haired, bespectacled boy-wizard just bubbled up in my brain…”

“The idea for The Ickabog came to me a long time ago. The word ‘Ickabog’ derives from ‘Ichabod’ meaning ‘no glory’ or ‘the glory has departed’.

I think you’ll understand why I chose the name once you’ve read the story, which deals with themes that have always interested me.”

Q: How much had you planned all seven books when you started The Philosopher’s Stone?

“By the end of the first book I knew how the seventh would end and had worked out a lot of details of the world, but I left enough leeway to enjoy creating things as I went.”

“When my Christmas idea finally presented itself, it arrived in a way no other story has come to me, because usually the source is a mystery to me.

However, this story originated with a pair of cuddly toy pigs, each about seven inches high, made of soft towelling material and filled with beans.”

“When I was a child, I read absolutely anything. These books are the ones I particularly loved then and read time and time again.”

“I mean, I literally sometimes I forget what month I’m in because in the book I’m in, for example, on the book I’m writing now, I’m currently in January 2017.

And because I’m thinking about those dates so much, I literally have to, you know, I leave my writing room at the end of the day and I can’t oh, we’re in September.”