Should we do it?

Yes.

Oh my goodness.

So it's 2008.

Where are we? What's happening?

So 2008, and it's the night before I get my GCSE results.

Big day, big day.

So do you have a memory of... of that time of of of getting used to you know school for instance as you say you know living with this condition maybe feeling a bit different in that way

What was the inspiration for the characters in Skandar? Do any of them reflect parts of your own personality?

Ah.

So I think, as a writer, um, I tend to write people that are made up of lots of different inspirations.

So, um, Skandar, for example, I think in some ways he's quite like me.

He likes mayonnaise a lot, as I do.

But he is also, um...

When he's growing up, um, he faces bullying, um, and he also has an older sister, and that is kind of a little bit based on my youngest brother, who, um, really struggled at school, and people weren't particularly nice to him.

I have loved reading about the Skandar world, and I would really like to understand the inspiration behind the elemental predators and how you developed the creatures.