Playing On The Edge

1)Do you play football yourself?

I love playing football. But at the age when it mattered, I was totally cynical about organised sport - didn't take it seriously. Probably could never have been good enough to have played professionally anyway. These days, injuries from collisions with fast moving motor vehicles have left me less mobile than I used to be and, apart from the games in my stories, my footie is confined to the occasional very gentle kickabout with the kids of friends. At the launch of Playing On The Edge we held a table-football tournament. For some reason everyone assumed the author of a couple of football stories ought to be a table-footie expert. I was sorry to have to disappoint them. I haven't played since my teens and my technique needs some serious hard work.

2)What team do you support?

Arsenal. Don't get me started…

3)The future of the game envisaged in Playing On The Edge is all too believable. Did you write the book as a kind of 1984 warning?

Yes. The relationship between soccer and big business seems to have developed a scary logic and momentum. Some would say it's out of control. The widening social gap between the haves and have-nots is reflected in the world of football where rich clubs get richer and the poor ones struggle to pay their bills. Whatever happened to the level playing field? In Playing On The Edge I was looking at where it might all be leading.

4)What kind of things were you reading between the ages of 10 and 12?

Around that age I became a very keen reader. I used the library a lot (I still do) and read practically anything I could lay my hands on. I remember Alan Garner, Richard Adams, Geoffrey Trease, Ian Serraillier, Leon Garfield, Rosemary Sutcliffe. Big favourites were Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. But there must have been a whole bunch more I don't remember. I had a version of the Tales of Greece and Troy which I read over and over. I read some of those classics too like Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. And I think I was reading some adult books at that age.

5)You've now written several books about football? Can you see yourself ever writing about another sport. If so, which one?

I never set out to write about soccer. It just happened that the first novel I wrote had a football theme. In fact I was working as an actor and workshop leader at Shakespeare's Globe and the second book I wanted to write was going to be called Shakespeare's Boy about a girl who goes back in time to Shakespeare's day… But my publishers wanted me to establish myself in the football area and I wanted to keep getting published so that got put on hold and Shakespeare In Love and King Of Shadows have beaten me to it. I certainly intend to write about things other than football. Now both my publishers have declared themselves happy for me to write about other stuff, but I'm sure sports will figure in future books.

6)What's the longest stretch of time you have written for, uninterrupted?

When I was trying to finish MacB there were a few days I remember writing and rewriting for 20 hrs at a stretch. Not healthy! It seems like I've hardly stopped writing since I wrote the first short story for Transworld just 3 years ago (Banana in the Football Fever collection). Since then I've written five novels. And for the last year I've also been writing storylines for a daily soap opera during the day so I've had to write my books at night. The soap, Salatut Elämät (Secret Lives) goes out in Finland. It is incredibly popular. At the moment I'm actually living in Helsinki. I came over here two months ago to hand over the task of storylining to a team of Finnish writers, but they asked me to stay and help out for a while. I had to move out of my London flat back in March because my neighbour went berserk and threatened to kill me. I had been sleeping on friends floors since then - not conducive to writing. After that experience Helsinki seems like the most tranquil city I have ever stayed in. No interruptions! No excuse not to get on with finishing the next book, except it's an exciting city and there are so many things to see and do.