I wrote to Peter James, via e-mail, after I had read his book 'Alchemist' in July this year, and told him how good it was (It's the first time I have done something like that, that's the kind of effect it had on me). Whilst I didn't expect a reply, I wanted to let him know anyway. To my surprise Peter wrote back to me and thanked me for the e-mail and wrote a few other comments replying to a query.

So, I suggested to Bob Gray (nomeancity's webmaster) that we should try and get an interview arranged with some authors and suggested Peter James. Bob was delighted, as was I, that Peter granted us the interview and here it is:

Steve Aitchison talks to Peter James

After having been successful in the film industry , what gave you the drive and inspiration to pen your first novel: Dead Letter Drop?

I always wanted to be a novelist. I wrote three novels in my late teens (each more terrible than the last....). The first got me a literary agent in New York. He liked it but wanted changes. Instead I wrote a second novel (he hated it) then a third (he hated it even more, and then he died!) I became embroiled in the film business, then when I was 27 my wife to be, Georgina said to me "If you want to be a novelist, you had better get on with it! I read an article in a newspaper saying there was a shortage of spy thrillers and thought - I could write a spy thriller! So I did- a really bad one, in retrospect, Dead Letter Drop. But by a miracle it was published - although much to my amazement (at the time) it didn't do terribly well!

You seem to have a hectic lifestyle, how do you organize your time to write and research your novels, run a successful business, be a family man, and keeping time for yourself?

I'm very disciplined - something I always tell would-be authors: From the day I start a novel, until the day I finish it, I make myself write a minimum of 1,000 words a day, six days a week (veg out on Sundays...) Once you get into the rhythm of a novel you can write very quickly. Although I write in the mornings, when I can, I do my best writing between 6pm and 8.30pm, fuelled by a massive vodka martini and olives! I have also developed an ability to write absolutely anywhere, thanks to that one indispensable invention, laptops! I can write in a car, on a plane, in a hotel lobby, in a shopping mall... I find that it is very easy as a writer to find an excuse not to write... too much noise... bla bla bla... I know a number of writers past and present, who love to write in busy cafes.

Your novels reflect a deep interest in science, technology and the supernatural, indeed this has become your trademark. How do you research these subjects, particularly the supernatural?

I love the research even more than the writing! I believe in trying things directly myself - I go to postmortems, to seances, I did a course in having out-of-body experiences.... the only thing I really baulked at was being buried alive for Twilight!! For my new novel, Perfect People, in which I have a religious sect, I spent four days in a Greek monastery. Up at 2.30am for four hours of prayer. And no laughing permitted, 24 hours a day. Now that was real purgatory...

What do you think makes a great thriller novel?

John Grisham once said the essence of all thrillers is "Get someone into trouble... get them out again..." The wonderful screenwriter Paddy Chayevsky said there are five questions to ask when writing a script: Who is our hero? What does he/she want? Why does he want it? Why do we want him to have it? Does he get it? All these words are very wise and apply to novels or movies. But above all, in my view what makes a great thriller are great characters, a great, credible story, a great ticking clock and a truly, truly, satisfying ending - combined with something that makes the reader think. My favourite thrillers are those which finish and wish I had written myself - and where I feel I have learned something.

Nomeancity has a lot of good short story writers, what advice would you give to someone who is thinking of making the jump to writing a novel?

My best advice is to decide on the kind of novel you want to write, then read really successful novels that are in the zone of the one you want to write, analyse them, deconstruct them, try to figure out what made them work. One of the crucial errors that new writers make is to think of the plot and then make the characters fit the action. Wrong! Think of your plot, yes, but then immediately think of your principal character(s) and decide what they do and how they would react in reality to the situations. Always base characters on people you know - both the major characters and the minor ones.

Who are your favourite authors?

I have a very eclectic list: Charles Dickens (he is a brilliant writer of characters and page turning novels) Graham Greene (wonderful writer of characters) F Scott Fitzgerald. Hemingway. Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby is my all-time favourite novel) Early Stephen King. (The Shining) William Peter Blatty (The Exorcist - a stunning book - I would love to have written this) Kurt Vonnegut Jnr. (No writer has ever made me laugh more than him)

Your controversial decision to publish 'Host' (1994) via floppy disk, essentially the first e-book, was met with a lot of criticism at the time. Where do you see the future of the novel going in the next few decades?

I think I am finally being vindicated..... I see it going increasingly electronic. No novel will be published in print as we know it in 50 years time - it will all be on sophisticated electronic paper - and you will have the choice of reading it, or having it read aloud to you.

You will be 53 in a few days time, and you have had a successful career in writing, filmmaking and the business world. What do you hope to do for the next 53 years and what keeps you driven?

Actually, I'm looking forward to the next 1,000 years... I'm planning to get a lot more involved in film and television - I have a drama miniseries I'm producing for HBO in the states next spring, the movie of Possession shooting next Spring (I've been disappointed with the television versions of my books and intend taking more control in the future) and a reality show for television, also slated for next year. I intend continuing to write a book a year - my next, Perfect People, about a couple who have the world's first genetically engineered "designer" baby is out next spring and I'm very excited about this - hugely topical! I guess more than anything I want to write books and make films/TV about the big issues in science, medicine and the paranormal that intrigue me. The constant pushing of the envelope into where did we come from, why do we exist, what will happen when we die (maybe one day soon we won't) and what is out there in space. I have always felt driven to try to make people think and question things. Science is getting freakier and scientists, unwittingly, more powerful by the day. I want to try to help people understand what is really going on - and hopefully make some tiny, tiny difference to our futures.

Click here to read the reviews of 'Host' & 'Alchemist'

Click here to read a short biography of Peter James