Goodreads asked Vaseem Khan:

How do you get inspired to write?

Vaseem Khan I have loved literature since I was a boy. I grew up on a diet of science fiction so my first inspirations were Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Greg Bear. I actually wrote a heap of SF stories in my teens – I still have the handwritten drafts. I later fell in love with literary fiction where writers like John Irving inspire me – A Prayer for Owen Meany is my favourite ‘Great American novel’. I admire writers who write with courage – I just read The Help by Kathryn Stockett – about the lives of African-American maids in the American South in the 1960s – and thought it was incredible; the month before I read The Fault in our Stars, and haven’t laughed so much in ages, even though John Green was tackling the subject of teens with terminal cancer – he did such a brilliant job. I got hooked on crime fiction in my twenties and this eventually inspired me to write crime novels. Ian Rankin’s Rebus series is wonderful – I am in awe of how he effortlessly creates a character like Rebus who has so many flaws and yet we are beguiled by him. I love Jeffrey Deaver’s quadrapalegic hero Lincoln Rhymes and his partnership with feisty Amelia Sachs. Deaver is brilliant at putting in twists and I think every young crime author can learn from him. America’s Michael Connelly is my favourite – his L.A. based detective Harry Bosch is my kind of crime fighter – grim, gritty and utterly implacable in his mission. Inspiration is everywhere. If you enjoy writing you will never be short of ideas or motivation.

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