Phoebe Agocs asked Jodi Taylor:

Your books are an absolute delight. Thank you so much. I'm curious -- were you at all influenced by Connie Willis' "To Say Nothing of The Dog"? That was my favorite book before St Mary's came along. Also, I'm always amazed by the twists in your plots. Are the books mapped out or do you figure things out as you go along?

Jodi Taylor Hi, thanks for your question. One of the downsides - few downsides - of writing is that I've lost an entire genre. I'm staying away from time travel and anything I think might be similar. Which is a great shame. Although I do think I've read TSNOTD and really enjoyed it. And The Technicolour Time Machine by Harry Harrison which I read as a child. I've always wanted to write about history. Or History, as Max would say. Initially, the main thread was supposed to be the history and St Mary's was simply the mechanism for getting them there. Being St Mary's, of course, they elbowed their way further and further into the story and around about three-quarters of the way through the first book I gave up and let them have their heads. I have to say, all through my history lessons I used to try and imagine what it was like to live at that time so when I started writing it seemed the natural way to go. The only part of the book I map out is the end. I do like to know how everything is going to end so all I have to do is work out how to get there.

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