1. Can you tell us something hardly anyone knows about you?I don’t know if this is possible, but I sometimes get a strange feeling that I was once a dog, like in another time or another life. When that happens, I get an urge to dig holes and scratch myself, and if I see a bone I get really excited and start panting! (Please don’t tell anyone, though.)
2. Do you have a nickname?
Yes. DICE . . . as in the little cubes with numbers 1-6 that you use for gambling. I’m not a gambler, so I don’t know why my friends nicknamed me that.
3. What is your greatest fear?
Spiders.
4. Can you describe your writing style for us in ten words?
Concise description; gripping suspense; believable characters; effective dialogue.
5. What are five positive words that describe you as a writer?
Concerned. Thoughtful. Passionate. Open. Minimal.
6. What book character would you be, and why?
Peter Pan. So that I could stay eternally young.
7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
2030. So that when I came back to now my head would be full of incredible things, and I would know so much.
8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now?
"Why did you leave me behind, you mean man?"
9. Who is your greatest influence?
Life is buzzing with influences, but if I had to settle on the greatest influence, I’d have to say my family - my wife and two daughters. They are everything to me.
10. What or who made you start writing?
Writing has always been in me. Stories have always been swirling around my head.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
Word is my favourite word because it is at the basis of what I do.
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Well you see, there’s this incredibly amazing book called The Incredibly Amazing Book of Everything. I don’t know exactly where to get a copy, but it would definitely be the one book I’d chose.
John Heffernan is the author of Naveed: Through My Eyes, published by Allen & Unwin and available from 26 February 2014. A portion of all proceeds from the sale of the books in this series are donated to UNICEF. Visit John's website to find out more about his books, which range from picture books to YA fiction.
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