How would you describe The Dragon of the Month Club to someone who has not read any of your previous books?

I think I would tell them that The Dragon of the Month Club is a book which not only introduces you to one of the coolest and most exclusive clubs in the entire world (one where you get to conjure dragons) but that the book also takes the reader on a really amazing adventure through a world filled with places and characters from some of the most amazing books ever written.  Oh…  and the ending…  is a surprise!

What makes your writing style unique?

That’s a tough question.  I guess I would say that one thing that I HOPE is unique about my writing style is the fact that it contains a lot of my own personal quirks and observations about the world.

Are any of your characters like you?

I think there’s probably a little bit of me in every character.  Hopes and fears and dreams.  I always try to get inside the head of every character I write and try to imagine what they’re like and what makes them who they are and do the things that they do.  That process of trying to put myself in their place probably means that I bring a bit of myself to them as well.

What draws you to the fantasy genre?

What is really great about the fantasy genre is the ability to create worlds and characters that have almost no limit to how amazing they can be.  My first book series, The Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency, is set in the “real world” and therefore it always has to obey the laws of that world and be realistic.  Fantasy books can be whatever they want, of course.  You can create worlds without boundaries and that is something I really love.

Many young readers hope to publish their own books someday. What advice would you give them?

I believe that the best advice to give would be the same advice I always give myself: write the book you’re capable of writing.  Let your book be your own voice and your own style.  Let it be the book that you are special and unique enough to write.  Don’t try to be someone else as a writer.  You aren’t them and can never be them so therefore you can never write books like them.  Write YOUR book.  Tell YOUR story.

Thanks, Iain!