I wrote Dragoncharm as a one-off - I'd never planned on a follow-up. But the publishing deal I struck with Voyager was for two books. I pitched in six chapters of a manuscript called The Wall, which never got off the ground (although elements from it eventually made their way into Stone & Sky). Instead we agreed I would write a direct sequel to Dragoncharm.

As I planned the sequel, I discovered I'd got more story to tell than would fit in a single book, so Dragonstorm and Dragonflame were conceived together. At the same time, I was adamant the three dragon books should stand alone as far as possible (I wanted to avoid that second-book-of-a-trilogy-that-leaves-you-on-a-cliffhanger thing).

Starting my first sequel felt harder than starting my first novel! I knew where I wanted to journey, but I couldn't get the door open. Only when I wrote a prologue featuring the immortal basilisk Ocher did I manage to unlock it. After that, it was the easiest thing in the world to pick up Fortune's story and, well, move mountains.

And then, when a blind, white dragon called Archan muscled unexpectedly into the story, all the careful planning went to pieces and the story developed a life of its own. That's when I knew things were really getting interesting.

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