Even though I've been writing since I was fourteen, my background as an editor in children's publishing means I'm much better at talking about other people's books than talking about my own. When in doubt, list:

1. Introduce yourself… or maybe the book. (Yes, the book.)

Trouble is the story of fifteen-year-old Hannah, who discovers she's pregnant and Aaron, the new boy at school who pretends to be the father. It's about strength and friendship and family and school. Mostly.

2. Say something about where you got the idea for Trouble from

The problem is that my ideas don't really have discernible sources. I remember the moment I knew I wanted to write this book (sitting on my bed sorting through my sock drawer...) but I'm not sure why. It seems, looking back, that it was driven by my desire to write a book about a teen girl who liked sex, and question the consequences that society holds up as a deterrent to horny teens. I wanted to make it hard for people who don't get into this kind of 'trouble' to judge her. And because I wouldn't want to read a story solely focused on pregnancy, I wove in another narrative. (That makes Aaron sound like an afterthought – but both characters actually turned up at the same time.)

3. Why you write

I started writing because I wanted to read books about teenagers who were doing the things I was most interested in (hanging out in the park; getting more than friendly with people they fancied; doing scary things, like fighting, that I would run away from myself). It turns out that writing is addictive. If I don't feed my habit, then I become unstable and develop into an unpleasant person to be around.

4. Talk about the process (as if you have one)

I write whatever scene I feel like working on whenever the mood strikes, gathering together a random selection of scenes that I then try to string together by writing a linear story. The result is what I affectionately term 'word vomit' – from which I then remove as many words as possible. It's odd, but the scenes that change the least from first draft to last are the ones I write at the very beginning – the first scene I wrote for Trouble was when Marcy, a popular girl in school, confronts Hannah in the school corridor after the Christmas holidays, a third of the way into the book.

5. Talk about the good bits about writing…

Writing is a legitimate way to daydream, which is always fun. And it seems a lot like reading, only you're the one in control (sort of – if you write yourself, you will know that 'control' is not strictly the right word). If there isn't a book about the things you want to read, you can write it.

6. Talk about the bad bits…

The bad bits are all things that I should be in control of, like taking regular breaks to avoid RSI, remembering to eat/drink/exercise/shower so that I don't just become a Non-shaped jelly developing a symbiotic relationship with my office chair.

7. Influences!

This is a perfect opportunity to talk about other people's books… Only I don't think about other books when I'm writing my own. (At least this means I can read whatever I like when I'm in the middle of a book without worrying I'll copy it.)

8. Other influences that aren't books, then

Music - the specific frustrations that form the backbone of American pop punk always give me the itch to write. Unsurprisingly enough, it's what I was listening to when I first started writing. Also TV: I spent a lot of my teens watching ER and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and listening to such great dialogue influences how I want my characters to talk.

9. Conclusion: it seems I'm stuck in perpetual teenagedom

Yes. I still wear the same kinds of clothes, listen to the same music, watch the same TV and read the same books. Only, the rest of the world thinks I'm a responsible adult!

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