Jack Heath may only be 24, but he has already published five young adult novels. Often described as a young Matthew Reilly, Jack's 'Six of Hearts' series is widely popular with boys and girls alike. In our Q&A with him, Jack talks about what it's like to be successful at a young age, authors that inspire him and how he writes his novels.

If your ‘Six of Hearts’ series was made into a film, who would you like to play the main character?

The inspiration for Agent Six's ‘look’ was my brother, Tom Heath, and he's an actor now, so I'd love to see him play Six in a film adaptation. But in a few years he'll be too old, and I imagine the producers won't want to cast a little-known performer. The movie Agent Six will probably be played by whoever the 2015 equivalent of Robert Pattinson is.

You’ve become quite a successful author at quite a young age. What tips or advice do you have for young writers? Have you ever felt pressured by being such a successful author so early on?

I'd advise young writers to experiment as much as possible before their first major publication. After you have an established readership, there's a lot of pressure to stay the same, and that's difficult if you're still deciding what kind of writer you want to be, as I am.

You mention on your website that, for an entire year, you will only read books written by women. How are you going with that? Can you talk about why you made this decision?

A fellow author, Justine Larbalestier, observed that most of the books I recommend to people are written by men. I wasn't sure if that was because men and women somehow wrote differently, or if it was subconscious sexism on my part. I thought that spending a year reading only books by women might help me answer that question – or at least tip the balance until it's equal. It's going really well. Forgoing the latest Bret Easton Ellis, Lee Child and Ben Elton books has given me time to read some great novels I otherwise might never have gotten around to, like Still Life by Joy Fielding and The Children of Men by PD James.

If you wrote a book for a genre other than action, what would it be?

When I'm reading, I tend to gravitate towards crime, sci-fi, and horror. I'd like to write in all three of these genres someday – maybe all at once – but there would always have to be some action. In my books, action is always the spark that starts the engine turning, and zaps it any time it stalls.

Do you think that as you get older your books will shift from young adult fiction to adult fiction?

I used to think of YA writing as something I'd grow out of, but now I'm addicted to it. I get to use elements from any genre, I get to write novels that are short and intense, and sometimes I get to be the one who ignites a lifelong passion for reading in an otherwise reluctant teenager. Someday I'll write books for adults, but I don't think it'll ever be my main thing.

How do you find inspiration for your stories?

I keep an eye on the news – especially science, technology, and history. Whenever I feel any disbelief, I know I've found something worth writing about. And whenever I'm reading a novel, watching a movie, or playing a video game, I ask myself how I would have written it differently, which sometimes leads to good ideas. My novel Money Run was a combination of how I would have written Artemis Fowl, Ocean's Eleven and Metal Gear Solid, mixed in with a bunch of technologies and political issues that I'd read about in the paper.

On your website you have a humorous section devoted to books you won’t write, like The Power of Love where Edward Scissorhands falls in love with a toaster. Are there any books that you wish you had been the author of?

I'm often consumed by jealousy whenever I'm reading a really, really good book, like A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, or Stephen King's Misery. The trick is to use that jealousy to inspire me to work harder. The day after I finished Diary by Chuck Palahniuk, I was extremely bitter. But the day after that, I hardly left the keyboard.

Sometimes I get mail from fans, asking me to reconsider not writing The Power of Love and the other books from that section of my site. I tell them to be careful what they wish for – those ideas are sounding less ridiculous every day.

Did any particular author or books inspire you to start writing?

As a kid I often read novelisations of the movies and TV shows that I was too young to see. When I got older and watched the originals, I was always disappointed – the special effects and acting had been so much better in my head. So in a sense, the books that inspired me to start writing were Alien, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Resident Evil, and the Doctor Who series.

But as I got older, various authors inspired me to change genres. Catherine Jinks kick-started my sci-fi writing career with Eye to Eye. Emily Rodda's Teen Power Inc. series led me into crime fiction. Dean Koontz ignited my interest in horror with The Taking. Markus Zusak made me want to write literary fiction when I read The Messenger. And I was already writing action when I first read Matthew Reilly's Ice Station, but he inspired me to crank up the volume.

You started writing your first novel in high school. Were your parents supportive during the writing process? Were your teachers?

My Mum and Dad were extremely supportive – perhaps more than they should have been, given that the odds of me being able to make a living doing this were pretty low. But without their encouragement, The Lab would still be a half-finished document on my computer. And I had several great English teachers along the way who were willing to read bits and pieces and give me feedback. Some even allowed me to submit chapters of The Lab as creative writing assignments!


About The Lab: Six of Hearts 1

Sixteen-year-old agent Six of Hearts is the first human to be grown from designer DNA.

He can run faster, jump higher and react more quickly than anyone else.

Six escaped from his creators, a sinister underground organisation called the Lab, when he was a baby. Now, he works for the Deck, a group of vigilantes who are trying to protect the Code – the moral values set down before the world descended into anarchy. When the Deck begins investigating the Lab, Six walks a tightrope between his two worlds, trying to keep his origins a secret. Then he meets Kyntax, a boy with the same DNA...

This science-fiction thriller for readers 12 years and over has all the requisite spy elements of gadgets and makeovers, high-octane chases, explosive fight scenes and a plot that leaves you guessing right till the end!

Click here to read an extract.