Hey Pete. We've known each other a while now, so you can call me what you want! Within reason...The thinking behind the 'rebranding' of 'William Hussey' is down to the brilliant people at Oxford University Press PR and Marketing. They didn't want to totally disown that I had written some adult horror books, but we did need a firm dividing line between the books for kids at the younger end of the spectrum and the adult novels. You've read the adult books, Pete, and there are things in them in terms of content that wouldn't really be suitable for younger readers. We could have gone the whole hog and had a completely different name, of course, but after scratching our heads nothing really seemed to fit, so William it was.

Swearing is generally frowned upon in the YA arena. There are exceptions, of course - Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time springs to mind - but 'bad words' are difficult to justify in children's books. My approach is to avoid them altogether rather than substitute the 'flippin's' and the 'toe rags' preferred by British soap opera characters. That kind of compromise just sounds weak, and, of course, many children swear all the time, so it rings false for them, too.

Generally, though, I can honestly say that I haven't changed my style much between the books. Maybe that's because I tend to prefer writing in straightforward and generally short sentences anyway. My primary aim is to tell a story as clearly and as honestly as possible. I'm not one for too many convoluted sentences running to paragraphs and multi-textured subplots. So, in the main, my writing style for adults and for kids is pretty similar. Another factor that I'm really passionate about is that children's writing ought to be aspirational in the sense that the kids reading the books ought to feel a little stretched here and there, in terms of vocabulary, character development, ideas, themes etc. My aim with the Witchfinder books is to write a nail-biting, spooky adventure series, but I also want kids to occasionally reach for the dictionary or the encyclopedia. Don't get me wrong, these aren't educational books, there's nothing preachy or lecturing in them, but the books I used to really love when I was a kid were those that informed once in a while. That's why I've included loads of 'real' mythology, as well as using the true historical basis of the 17th Century witchfinders.

I guess the other aspect of this question is the level of violence and gore. There has been some very minor trimming of my usual excesses (!), but I can honestly say that, in the Witchfinder series, I've maintained a very healthy level of grisliness! Within the first 30 or so pages of Dawn of the Demontide we've got child sacrifice, decapitation and a demon tearing someone's throat out! When I originally came up with the idea of a YA horror I went away and did my research into the level of violence acceptable within this sub-genre. Honestly, I was shocked... and delighted! To get an idea of what I mean you only have to read the opening chapters of Darren Shan's Lord Loss...

Thanks for those kind words, Pete. The story of how Witchfinder came into being is like a paper chain of coincidences, each link so tenuous and delicate that I look back now and it actually frightens me: if just one of those links had failed then the series would never have existed:

Link 1: 2005 - I'm caught up in a cul-de-sac of research for Through A Glass, Darkly. I have a witch living on an island in the Fens. She's a minor character, a bit of contextual fluff really, but I become fascinated by the period in which she lived and with that small pocket of time in English history during our Civil War when Matthew Hopkins and his accomplices were allowed free rein to persecute 'witches'. I move on from the comfort of research to writing my book, but determine that one day I will write something about the infamous witchfinders...

Link 2: Summer 2008 - I was invited to chair a book group discussion of my adult horror novel, Through A Glass, Darkly, at Waterstones Boston. After the event I got chatting to children's fiction buyer Deborah Chaffey. Deborah told me of the immense popularity of horror in children's fiction and that, in her honest opinion, there wasn't enough good horror being produced for the YA market. I left Boston that night with a challenge from Deborah - to write a teen horror book...

Link 3: Sepember 2008: I've been procrastinating. I really have to start a new book. I've finished The Absence and that has been accepted by Beautiful Books for publication in March 2009, but I must get on with a new project. I have an idea for a horror novel set in a Victorian seaside town - the last in the 'Fen Trilogy' - but I can't make it work. I decide to take a complete break and write something different - but what? I remember Deborah's challenge. I go out and pick up 25 or so YA horror titles and begin to research the genre: I'm surprised by both the quality and the intensity of these books - many of them are as good if not better than their 'adult' contemporaries. But what story should I tell? I remember all that research I collected, and never used, for TAGD. I dig out the box of notes and, halfway through reading, an idea pops into my head. It arrives fully formed, and it's a keeper. I dash out a 200 word outline and start writing. Three months later, the book's finished and, for the first time in my writing life, I know it's good. Really good.

Link 4: March 2009 - I've finished the 3rd draft and am on the lookout for a new agent who can champion Witchfinder. The day I complete my latest copyedit, I get into a web-chat with the brilliant Sarah Pinborough, horror writer extraordinaire, who had given me a generous cover quote for The Absence. I'm chattering away about Witchfinder and Sarah suggests I contact her agent, Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates. Veronique is a big name in the world of children's books, with such writers as Michael Morpurgo and Geraldine McCaughrean on her books. With Sarah's introduction, I send Veronique the book. She gets back to me within two or three days, having taken her phone off the hook. She loves Witchfinder and immediately offers representation.

Link 5: May(ish) 2009 - The book is ready to be sent out. Ten months or so earlier, senior commissioning editor Jasmine Richards has been recruited by Oxford University Press to seek out new and exciting talent for their children's books division. Jasmine reads Witchfinder within a week and an offer is on the table - it is the first book she has taken to acquisitions since being appointed.

Phew! Well, as you can see, if just one of those links hadn't been there then there would be no Witchfinder. Without Boston book group I wouldn't have met Deborah; without chatting to Sarah that day I wouldn't have had the intro to Veronique; and if Jasmine hadn't been at OUP at the right time the book would never have been commissioned! Luck and contacts - sometimes those are the best friends a writer will ever have!

I like the blurb on the back cover. We struggled for a long time to come up with a plot summary and then Jasmine Richards suggested a bold and brilliant blurb:

"Witches exist.

The Demontide is coming.

Only Jake Harker can stop it."

That's actually all you need to know!

Yup, two more books in the trilogy. The second, Gallows at Twilight, comes out in January 2011 and then the third, The Last Nightfall, arrives September 2011. Gallows has been read by Veronique who called last week to say it is 'one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.' Wow! So no pressure for Book 3 then!

I'm pitching a new YA series to OUP this year, possibly together with a standalone YA. My agent's read the outline for the new series and is very excited about its commercial potential. I would love to complete the Fens Trilogy one day, but the idea just isn't there yet, and time is an issue. And yeah, a holiday would be nice!

I think pace is crucial for a successful YA. That's not to say that every YA book has to rattle along at a rate of knots, but it should have a real drive and sense of peril behind it. Another thing I honestly believe is that you should never pull your punches with children; they are very sensitive (and rightly so) to being coddled or infantilized. You must be honest and bold or kids won't forgive you. I also think that there is sometimes a danger of having your child characters imitate how you think kids talk and act. Someone recently complained that no kids in Witchfinder say 'innit', but I maintain that such 'contemporary' styles of speech date a book very quickly, and that kids often see attempts by writers to accommodate their perceived culture as generally quite naff.

It's a good question. I don't think so, though: 'literary' horrors, for want of a better word, will always appeal because they are a fully immersive experience. As much as the extreme horrors in those other formats may provide a quick stab of terror, they are not very satisfying forms of fear, are they? For a true, lingering horror experience you can do no better than go back and read a really good MR James short story...

I'd like to, but I really don't know. It depends on so many factors. I've really enjoyed writing these YA thrillers; they've honestly been the best experience I've ever had as a writer. For the foreseeable future I don't want to leave this sub-genre. I've got lots of other YA horror ideas and I can't see any adult books on the immediate horizon.

Absolutely. I refer back to my answer to question 8. Books offer a fully immersive experience that other formats just don't provide. It's an issue of time. With books, you are given a world of character to wallow in. A good horror book should provide you with a generally sympathetic character for you to really get to know - then, when horrible things begin to happen to him or her - you really feel it. Feel it like it was happening to a friend. That is what marks horror novels out as something special - it's not the special effects, as fun and as vital as they are - it's the experience of wearing a character's skin, and then feeling that skin begin to crawl...

Yup, we have a fortnight's book tour taking in schools, libraries and bookshops in the north of England and Scotland. Other events in the south of the country are being planned. The tour will include an event called 'Trial of a Witch' in which we try kids for witchcraft according to the methods of the 17th Century witchfinders! I'll also be talking to kids about writing and the publishing process. Any schools interested in me coming in with the event can contact Harriet Bayly at Oxford University Press. There's also a launch party being held at Waterstones Boston - a thank you to the wonderful Deborah Chaffey for inspiring the book, although she's doing a lot of the work herself to get it off the ground! That will be at Boston Waterstones, Pescod Square at 7pm on Thursday 4th March. All details for the tour and forthcoming events, as well as competitions and video trailers can be found at witchfinderbooks.co.uk

Many thanks, Pete. A pleasure, as always!