Philip Reeve: 'It’s possible that machines might become conscious'

The bestselling author of the Mortal Engines series lifts the lid on the world of his new sci-fi epic Railhead, with its interstellar trains, robot servants and walking colonies of insects – and why he is most like a dark chocolate ginger biscuit

Do you plan the whole story out in advance when you write a book? Do you already know how it will end when you start?

I don’t even know the beginning when I start! I just begin writing random scenes, with a vague idea of the sort of book I want, and gradually I start to find out who the characters are going to be, and what’s going to happen. And after many, many re-writes I start to see what the end will be, and I go, “Yippee!” and write my way towards it. It’s quite a laborious process, but it beats working for a living.

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