What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? The first one I remember reading by myself was one of the Nate The Great books, about a boy detective who has great breakthroughs in cases by eating pancakes.

What was the book you read that made you decide to be a writer? I read a lot of the Redwall books by Brian Jacques as a kid. When I was 12 or so, I spent a summer in Taiwan with my cousin. We hadn’t spent much time together before then, but we discovered that we both loved Redwall and we started playing games where we would pretend to be the hares and hang out with the warrior mice. That’s the first time I remember creating a story. My cousin and I are both writers now!

What’s your favourite first line in a book? It’s really hard to beat Demon Copperhead: ‘First, I got myself born.’ It’s so short, but you immediately get the character’s voice and the situation he’s in, that he’s had to do everything himself including the most basic things we take for granted.

Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you? I adored Lulu Miller’s Why Fish Don’t Exist, which is simultaneously a memoir and a sort of biography. It expanded both my view of structure versus chaos and of narrative forms.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day? I usually read when I wake up. I like to keep two books next to my bed: a ‘sleeping’ book and a ‘wake-up’ book. The ‘sleeping’ book is usually some sort of non-fiction book, and the ‘wake-up’ one is usually fiction. I can never read too long though, since the cat will start asking for breakfast.

What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day? Often I’ve stopped writing because my cat has come to sit on my notebook, so I end up playing with her. If I’m being good, I’m writing before work. Once I’m done writing, I start working at my full-time job as a software engineer. If my habits have fallen apart that day, then I’m writing at night.

In a parallel universe where you’re the tyrant leader of a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn? As an American, I find this question hits a bit too true! I can’t think of any book I’d want to burn all copies of, so I’ll say probably my copy of some math textbook that brings back bad memories.  

What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist? Attend author events. They’re a lot of fun and are often free. I find it a great way to meet authors and to hear them talk about craft and the publishing industry.

The Phoenix Pencil Company is published by Fourth Estate on Thursday 31 July; main picture: Jimmy Zeng.