The best-selling author who dreamed up plot of new book 'on long drive to Scotland'

Beselling author Joanne Harris has revealed she came up with the plot of her new book while on a journey to Scotland.

Writing on social media, she said the plot of a new novel she has been working on came to her “pretty much fully formed” while she was on a “long drive” north of the border.

She said: “I've found that every book takes shape in a different way: but this one emerged pretty much fully-formed, during a long drive to Scotland.

Author Joanne Harris said she had “dreamed up” new plot on drive to Scotland. | National World

“I wrote the first and last sentences straightaway, on my phone, so I wouldn't forget them. They haven't changed.“

Ms Harris, who has a sequel to her 1999 bestseller Chocolat, coming out in May, said the book she came up with on her way to Scotland is a brand new work which has not yet been announced.

The soon-to-be-published novel is called Vianne, after the heroine of the original Chocolat story, which was made into a major film starring Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and Johnny Depp.

In reply to a question from one fan, who asked if Ms Harris was “talking Vianne” or if the book was “a new one you got cooking?” she replied: “Brand new”.