The Dagger in the Desk was written in six days, with help from members of the Guardian children's website, who voted on a name, a location and even what sort of ghost it should feature.
Jonathan Stroud writes: "Normally, when I'm writing a book, I allow myself lots of time to plan ahead. Then, once I've written a passage, I'm always prepared to go back and revise it as much as necessary to make it work well. So creating this story with you has taken me out of my comfort zone in two ways at once. First off, I had no idea when I sat down each morning which of the previous day's choices you'd have voted for. I had to wait for the 9am deadline, get the result, and only then start scribbling. Secondly, I had to hand in each day's segment by midday (though admittedly I did miss this slightly once or twice), so I didn't have much time to reread and alter what I'd done."
• Click here to find out more about how Jonathan Stroud wrote the story
• Click here to start reading the story for yourself
