The idea of a magical castle that might come and go like this – especially one that is often shrouded in mist – ignited my imagination. The castle is on a tiny island which is cut off from the mainland at high tide, but which you can walk across to when the tide is out.

What could be more inspiring than a place where people, boats and ships have mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace?īook three of the series, Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist, was inspired by a castle in a beautiful part of Cornwall. In the second book of the series, Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep, it was the Bermuda Triangle that caught my attention. In my first book, it was the idea of mermaids and the sea itself. And I’m even more delighted that so many young readers want to join me and Emily on these adventures.Īs someone who lives by the sea, and who loves the mysteries and the beauty of the ocean, there are so many things that inspire me. Now, more than a decade later, I am delighted that I still get to have adventures with Emily. The outcome of all of this resulted, a couple of years later, in the publication of The Tail of Emily Windsnap. (This is still a large part of my creative process nowadays, by the way.) I scribbled down some ideas, played with words, wrote a poem, and then finally turned it into a book. I was living on a narrowboat on the canal, staring into space and thinking of ideas. When I started writing my first Emily Windsnap book, over ten years ago, I had no vision of the future for this book.