My five books are all either completely true stories – that is my two autobiographies – or partly based on real characters, situations, and places I have known, as in my three saga novels. So, absolutely everything – however bizarre – in my life-stories did actually happen; whereas there are varying degrees of fiction in the novels.

In the totally factual 'Yeti Seeks Mate' and 'English, Solitaire, Cowboy, Cuckoo. . .' memoirs, I do try to write in a slightly fictional style. By this, I mean I portray the other people in my life as characters in their own right – whether they be my parents, serious romantic possibilities, or incidental passers-by who provide colour.

My first two novels – 'Nork From Nowhere' and 'The Ice Cream Terrorist' – are largely based on my experience at state boarding school. But I have deliberately created larger-than-life characters, some outlandish situations, and believable plot twists to hopefully make them more entertaining.

In my third novel 'Newspaper Curtains', I took just one unusual classroom incident from my schooldays, then simply imagined what if before and after that moment for the whole story. I stole the personalities of people I know for the main characters and half-set the story in the area I now call home.

Readers say my books have intriguing titles and distinctive covers, and are unusual both because of how I: combine fact and fiction; mix romance, adventure, fantasy, mystery, tragedy, gritty socal issues, and comedy; and create and narrate such realistic female characters, given my gender, age, and lifestyle.

My favourite authors, who have most influenced my style, are:

• Maeve Binchy – female insight to, and perspective of, characters and narrative.
• George Orwell – foresight of politics and struggle against repression by the under-privileged.
• Thomas Hardy – class/gender-based stories but told in old-fashioned and considered style.

I've read that authors are either 'plotters' – who detail pretty much every aspect of their books on a storyboard – or 'pantsers', who make it up as they go along. With my autobiographies I was a bit of a plotter, working from contemporaneous diary notes and essays written up to 40 years ago. But for my novels I definitely flew by my pants, just sitting in my armchair or lying in bed dreaming up ideas!

When writing, I imagine a friendly reader sitting in their armchair, either laughing, shocked, or occasionally crying, while I try to give them advice – either directly or via my characters – on how to achieve happiness for themselves.