You scavenge the world for what you need, the building blocks necessary for your creation. Stealing' doesn't work. It feels false. You have to transform and make it your own. You also have to develop your own singular vision of the world.
Glaswegian raindrops are like splattery fried eggs.
Yes, I sent the completed manuscript to an agent, Herta Ryder, Judy Blume's agent, who sadly died just three weeks after she placed it with a publisher. She called it her last 'misssion' and, however trite it sounds, at low points I remember that remarkable act of faith and get my head together. Both your teenage novels have been widely and justifiably praised. I'd go so far as to say that they are the best-written teenage novels of the decade. It is wholly understandable, therefore, to see good writers of teenmage fiction, such as Keith Gray and Alan Durant, diverting their energies to younger fiction.