I usually start with an incident, situation or scene in mind. This is what sparks off everything else. After this, I write a very broad outline or plan of where I see the story going. Sometimes, I write down everything that goes through my mind. For example, I might write; 'How about if X misunderstands what Y says? Yes, maybe; but it will mean that they cannot then meet on friendly terms at the ball.'

Sometimes, the setting of the story means that I have to do a lot of specialist research. For example, before writing 'His Lordship's Gardener ' I had to find out quite a lot about gardens of the period, whereas for 'The Grand Tour', I needed to find out about travel in the late eighteenth century. In addition, I need to have a good deal of general background information, and the more I find out, the more I discover how little I know. When I have assembled enough material, I can make a start, although the research continues throughout the writing process, as different items of information need to be checked.

When I start writing, I do so in long hand, with a pen, and I normally write the whole novel in this way. Only when I have done this do I start to put it onto the word processor. This stage is far more than a simple copying exercise, as I revise as I go along, swapping things around as need be. After the whole thing has been entered on the word processor, I print it out, read it through and make notes corrections and additions by hand. I enter these changes into my WP. This is sometimes the last draft, but more frequently, I have to go through it again and make further changes. Other people may write in other ways. This happens to work for me, and I simply cannot create directly onto the screen. I need a pen in my hand.