“Dear Sophie, I’m writing the great British novel. It’s really boring, I think I’ll throw in World War III.”

Ahahaha, I love Meg Rosoff.

More from her interview at the B&N blog:

I wrote a practice novel, a horse book, and it became very, very dark. My agent said, “I don’t think I can sell a horse book with so much sex in there.” I said to her, “If it’s supposed to be a book for teenagers, what are the rules?” She told me that really there are no rules—just write the fiercest book you can write and I’ll sell it. Even as an intelligent feminist who grew up in the 60s and 70s, it was almost the first time anyone had said to me, “just be as fierce as you possibly can.” And I just unleashed the floodgates. And I still do when I write. I say to people, “You’re not trying to write a best-seller, you’re trying to write a book that resonates, that really breaks glass.”