'How do I make it more exciting, funnier, more heartwarming?'

‘I wanted the characters to do magic, but I didn't want them to be magic. I wanted a foundational mythology through the elements. When you run into pot holes it's sometimes quite tempting to fix it with magic. I resist that and want it always coming back to the elements or the bond so it feels believable...

I'm a really visual writer. If I can't see it I struggle to write it. It has to be able to play out as if it's a scene...

The more I know about the characters, the easier it is to find the humour. How do I make it more exciting, funnier, more heartwarming? I'm aways asking myself these questions. The message of the book is finding friends who accept you for who you really are. It's about loving people even when it's hard, about doing the right thing even when it's scary.'

A F Steadman, whose debut children's novel Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, the first in a five-book fantasy series, is published this month, in the Bookseller