Oh, there's a teenage girl inside all women. It comes out mainly when we walk into a room filled with other women and immediately feel self-conscious. I do, anyway. I'm always convinced I'm going to fall flat on my face or something.

I'm very much, like, 'We've all got to help each other.' If there's a new female writer, I'm much more likely to read her book than if it's by a new male writer.

On a normal novel, I would like to get 2,000 to 2,500 words done in a day; I average 10,000 words a week, and then there's a day for planning. With the historical ones, it's a lot harder because you have to stop and double-check facts.

I would quite like to become a mainstream thriller writer, obviously, because I enjoy writing those stories, and it is the best way to secure your career.