Hi, James. How do I feel to have won the Most Fun Book With Pictures award? Well, I'd like to feel amazing about it - but I can only feel half amazing. The other half of the amazing feeling belongs to David Tazzyman, the illustrator of the "Mr Gum" books. And together, we both feel AMAZING about winning, believe me!

Actually it's probably trifle. But it has to be made by my mum, she makes the best sherry trifle I've ever tasted. Lemon meringue's OK, but it's not one of my favourites. Having said that, practically anything with sugar in is fine by me. I have a very sweet tooth.

Mr Gum doesn't have a favourite book, he hates reading and is far too lazy to bother in the first place. Yes, Aidan, I am going to steal your shoes so watch out!

You mean Friday O'Leary? Friday O'Leary is a mysterious sort of a fellow who lives in a secret cottage in the woods outside Lamonic Bibber. He knows the secrets of time and space, plus he's quite good at crosswords.

OK, I'll write a couple more books on the condition that these bizarre hamster sacrifices end immediately.

Sorry, that's TOP SECRET INFORMATION! I haven't decided on the title yet even though the book is mostly written. I could give you a few hints and clues about Book 5 but no - I feel like keeping it a mystery for a while longer. Anyway, you probably haven't read Book 4 yet, deal with that one first, you naughtys!

Good question, Tyler. I don't know. But I know there will be at least eight books in the series. Eight is a very good number, it is one more than Harry Potter, ha!

But you can't have new "Mr Gum" books EVERY day, that would be crazy! They're not newspapers or bottles of milk, you know - you'll just have to be patient, Sunny! Sorry about that! OK, as a rough guide, Book 4 is out in early February and (hopefully) Book 5 will be out in October. So put those dates in your diary and please stop bothering the poor people who work at WH Smith!

Hi, Daisy. Good question but I'm afraid I have no good answer. They just come to me whatever I'm doing. I could be walking down the street, having a bath, climbing a tree, eating a mountain, parachuting off a blade of grass, playing underwater tennis or dancing with camels - and for no reason at all an interesting idea will pop into my brain. You see, I just have that type of brain. Some people have the sort of brain that helps them cure diseases, and some people have the sort of brain that helps them invent new machines. But I have the sort of brain that comes up with nonsense like "dancing with camels".

Well, Ryan, I've drawn a lot of farting stars in a lot of books over the last year or so. But I think I do remember you, yes. Now, let me see... why is Mr Gum called Mr Gum? Well, "Mr Gum" felt like the right name for him, it's as simple as that. I like it because it makes me think of an old bit of chewing gum lying on the pavement or stuck to the underside of a chair. Old chewing gum is pretty grubby stuff - and Mr Gum is pretty grubby too, so it seems to suit him.

SUCH A GOOD QUESTION! Probably a cat. You just get to do nothing all day, get fed for free and stroked a lot. And you get whiskers too. BARGAIN!

Hey, Jude! Thanks for your question. Hmm, let's see. Top tips for making funny books? Write stuff that makes you laugh - if you find it funny yourself, then perhaps other people will too. Also I think it is important to have characters the readers care about. If it's just all funny-funny-ha-ha from start to finish then it's not so good. I think you have to have real emotion underneath all the jokes, that way your stories will hopefully be funny AND exciting.

Well, when I'm writing and it's going well I feel FANTASTIC, it's the best feeling in the world. But when it's not going so well I feel like my head is full of cotton wool and I can't get any ideas and it's all very frustrating and horrible. So it is a mixture of utterly fantastic and utterly awful.

I've answered the question about ideas elsewhere on this page - but as for character names, I just pick what feels right. I sometimes use the names of people I know (like Jake and Polly) or sometimes a name just comes to me from nowhere (like Friday O'Leary or Oink Balloon the goblin). For me, making up new character names is one of the most enjoyable parts of writing because you can have stupid names, obvious names, bizarre names, or even just normal names. You have total freedom.

I'm glad you and your cousins like them, D Hannah. Usually I just start with one idea, like "Mr Gum wants to poison a dog" or "Mr Gum is leading a goblin army" and I start writing and I see what happens. I don't know everything that is going to happen when I start writing my books - they usually change a lot while I'm writing them. It's a great feeling when the story I'm working on goes down a path that I wasn't expecting. It's nice to be surprised by my own stories!

I don't have a pet, no. But my friend has a cat called John. He is enormous and fat and ginger because I think about six different families feed him. He is only six months old but he struts about like he owns the planet. I would like to steal John the cat from my friend when she's not looking.

No, I rent it on a weekly basis from Beards-4-U, a company specialising in beard rental. The rates are quite reasonable and the beards are all made of the finest ocelot hair so quality is guaranteed. But unfortunately it is not fully trained, no. Sometimes I find it has jumped off my face and is on the floor, trying to chat up the doormat. The most interesting thing I have found hidden in my beard is my own face.

A tiddlywink when I was about 7. But even more interesting than that: when I was about 12, I once put a full-size snooker ball in my mouth. Somehow I was able to fit it behind my teeth, but then it was MUCH harder to get it out than it had been to put it in. I thought I would have to go to hospital and they'd have to break my jaw to get it back out, but luckily, after a lot of straining and stretching and spitting, I did eventually manage to remove it. The worst part was, my so-called friend Clive was watching the whole time, and laughing uncontrollably at my stupid predicament. (Note: DO NOT try this at home, unless the snooker ball is made of cheese perhaps.)