As a boy I was a total bookworm. My family and I lived on a boat down in Cornwall. We had no TV and were often moored out at sea, so books were my escape.

Then we moved to Nottingham and my life changed overnight. I was tall, with an odd accent and a wardrobe sourced mainly from charity shops — my new school might as well have been a shark tank.

But I learned to survive. Karate Kid was a big thing back then and I started taking martial arts lessons. I was so nervous, I failed several exams before finally getting my brown belt.

Life was just as hard at home — but my new town had a good library and I spent every night reading.

Finally I got a job — bought myself some nicer clothes — and my best friend's dad cut my hair, so I began to look at least vaguely passable.

The whole time I was writing. But every time I got a hundred pages in, my first page read like it had been written by a toddler!

But I kept at it and I really love We Are the Wild. I hope you do too.