Our West Highland white terrier, Angus, had the shape and expressions to become Benjamin and Tulip, Timothy, and all the other animals I have made up for my stories. The dynamics between older and younger siblings are common to all families. But not all of Wells' ideas come from within the family circle. I am an accomplished eavesdropper in restaurants, trains, and gatherings of any kind. These remembrances are jumbled up and changed because fiction is always more palatable than truth.
Memories become more true as they are honed and whittled into characters and stories.
I regret only that I cannot live other lives parallel to my own. Writing is a lonely profession and I am a gregarious sort of person. A part of me was never satisfied with years of tennis. I still yearned to play basketball. From HarperCollins web site.