I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up - only one thing was sure: I wasn't going to be a writer! Why? Because my father was a journalist and often spent his Saturdays bashing the typewriter while I crept around trying not to make a sound. Working on the weekend? I couldn't be doing with that! (Famous last words).
Annabel Kantaria
I have a degree in psychology. Because I didn't know what I wanted to do, I chose a degree that sounded interesting. It was. Psychology is a degree that you can apply in your life every single day, and I've really enjoyed going back to my psychology text books while trying to get inside the heads of my characters.
I always knew I would live abroad. I realise it sounds a little batty, but I knew from a very young age that I needed to live somewhere with blue sky and wall-to-wall sunshine. When I told my mum in 1997 that I was moving to Dubai, she wasn't the least bit surprised.
I do my best writing at 3.30am. I've had insomnia since I was 11. I've now learned that those moments between sleeping and waking are incredibly creative. You're more in touch with your subconscious, I think, and I often have my best ideas then, or wake with pieces of dialogue in my head. I get up and write them down. With the best will in the world, you'll never remember night-time ideas in the morning.
I don't have a favourite author. I'm often asked who my favourite author is but there is no single person I go back to again and again. I read the classics as a teenager so now I like to read contemporary fiction - what's new, what everyone's talking about. I'm a literary butterfly - landing here, landing there.
I never read books twice. Again, I'm often asked which books I read over and over. I don't! Once it's read, that's it. But I do keep all my books, and flick through them sometimes, remembering.
I never go to the cinema. I generally can't stay awake through a whole movie in the evening, and I hate people talking through shows, so I prefer to watch movies at home, where I can stop them half way and continue the next evening!
I don't yet have a method for writing books. People always ask if I'm a planner or a 'pantster' (write by the seat of my pants). The answer is: a bit of both.
I started writing my first book when I was 11. I persuaded my best friend, Kirsty, that we should write a book together. Every day I brought in a ring binder file, foolscap paper and pencils, and made the poor girl work in our lunch break. We never got beyond chapter seven.
Since becoming a full-time author, I've had to start going to the gym. Writing means I spend hours sitting down and I don't even have a commute to get me moving. Exercise doesn't come naturally to me but, if I didn't force myself to do something every day, I'd have to have been surgically removed from my chair by now.
