himself has to have a reason for getting involved with it. This is the real engine room of the book. The process of figuring it all out then generates roles for secondary characters to play. Gradually, a structure arises that more or less dictates its own form and pace. Once all those basic elements are in place, there comes the task of weaving it all together into a 100,000-plus word-long chunk of prose and dialogue that must keep thousands of fans engaged and satisfied by delivering all they expect from a Ben Hope story, plus a little more. It's a hard process, from start to finish. Not that I'm complaining. Just doing my job, ma'am... Are the names of the characters in your novels important and how do they come to you? They're very important, and I spend a lot of time mulling over them before they're right for the character. It's an intuitive thing, there's no logic to it -- you just know when you've hit the mark. It can take a while, and in the course of writing a book the names of secondary characters can change several times. I have to be consistent about that, or it can lead to confusion. I'll sometimes find myself wondering 'Eh? Who's Harry? Who's Dave?' How would you describe yourself in one sentence? I have absolutely no objective view of myself whatsoever, so it would be hard to say. How about something like: 'A saintly, heroic genius who was tragically misunderstood