One Minute With: India Knight, novelist

Where are you now and what can you see?

At my desk in a corner of the sitting room, and right into the houses opposite - it's like 'Rear Window' without the murder.

What are you currently reading?

'Mortal Causes' by Ian Rankin. I'm so suggestible that I have to read stuff from a completely different genre when I'm writing fiction, otherwise I lift things and mimic narrative voices by accident. I love detective fiction, also I'm a bit in love with Rebus. Before that, 'Union Atlantic' by Adam Haslett, which I couldn't recommend more highly.

Choose a favourite writer and say why you admire her/him

So many, but at random, John Lanchester, because he is that rarest of creatures who, as far as I can see, is congenitally incapable of writing a duff sentence.

Describe the room where you usually write

The aformentioned corner of the sitting room. I used to have a study, but I found it lonely and sort of sterile. I started writing my books at the kitchen table in my old house, with the children running about, and now I just embrace the chaos.

What distracts you from writing?

Twitter, mostly, but in a good way.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

Impossible to answer without sounding like a twat. Do people say 'Zuleika Dobson' or 'Ivan Denisovich'? Ha. Maybe Sam-I-Am from 'Green Eggs And Ham' by Dr Seuss. I'm quite tenacious.

What are your readers like when you meet them?

Always lovely, which seems quite amazing. I started writing fiction to amuse myself and my girlfriends, and the readers all strike me as potential new girlfriends who you could go and drink Martinis with. Can't ask for more than that.

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

My daughter's cardiac surgeon.

India Knight's new novel, 'Comfort and Joy', is published by Fig Tree