What characterises every entry is the desire to tell people’s stories and I think that is one of the main things that makes a writer. We are the ones who see someone across the street or sitting in a bar and wonder ‘what brings you here? Where are you going? Where have you come from? What have you done? What if?’

And if you get to ‘what if?’, the story is starting to form in your mind. I have talked before in these blogs about where stories come from: with me it has tended to be a sense of place. I walk into somewhere and the atmosphere takes over and a story unfolds. The people come later.

However, for others, for many writers indeed, it starts with the person, that man or woman spotted scurrying for the bus, who goes on by without ever knowing what they inspired.

Like most writers, I sometimes base characters on people I know. Not their persona, rather their appearance, which I use as a starting point and which triggers the process for me. They have no idea they have become that character - after all, how would they know since I turned them into drug dealers, gun runners and serial killers?! - but using them is very helpful in allowing me to fix the person in my mind.

Keep spying on the bus queues!