Dear Mr. Stroud,

Firstly, I would like to tell you, even though I'm sure that you have already heard it many times, that your trillogy is breathtaking. The way the characters developed through the three books... it's something amazing.

Anyway, I, like many others, have a few curiositys:

1.) How did the idea of Kitty ocur you? Did you plan her from the beginning or did she suddenly come up?

2.) Did you have many Kitty's? Like, different personalities, etc.? Or did you know from the beginning how she would be, how she would look like.

3.) If a movie were made, do you want unknown teenage actors to play kitty and nat?

4.) Where are Nats parents? Are they dead?

Thanks :)

Hello there,

Thanks for the questions; I'm really glad you've enjoyed the trilogy so much.

Kitty appeared quite early on, firstly in that scene in Amulet in the alley, when she and her friends jump Bartimaeus. At that point I was going to make her a central figure in the first book, and I began writing her 'back story' such as the incident with Jakob and the magician, and her appearance in court. But I soon realised it was getting far too complex for one book, so I decided to push K's backstory into the second book, and leave her as a peripheral presence in the first.

As for her personality... that's a good question. She was always tough, clever, formidable - you can see how she was originally by reading that alley scene in Amulet. But it wasn't until Golem that I began to develop her, looking for her background, her true reasons for being a resistance fighter - and her idealism. With most human characters (Nat's the same), I work my way into understanding them as I write. Bart was different - he turned up fully formed.

If the movie gets made then yes, I would assume that unknown teenage actors would be the best bet, because there are no preconceptions with them. Mind you, there are probably lots of great teenage actors who are already successful who would do a fantastic job as well.

I don't know what happened to Nat's parents, but they aren't dead. They sold him off when he was little and probably made a bit of money from it, got better jobs etc. Maybe they had other children. Maybe they regret not knowing what happened to their little boy... They made a choice and have had to live with it ever since.

All the best,

Jonathan