I love unlikely heroes and heroines. They're characters who inspire me. They make me feel it's possible to do anything, if you persevere.
All my books seem to be about them. I tried really hard with Phoenix to write something different to Varjak Paw. But it's another story about someone small in a big world; someone who starts without power, yet ends up saving everyone else. So I looked back at my own reading, and discovered unlikely heroes and heroines in all my favourite stories.

1. The rabbits in Watership Down by Richard Adams

The rabbits are heroic because they're not powerful in any way. They're just ordinary little rabbits, and everything in the world is out to get them. To survive in that dark, dangerous world, they have to be so brave and brilliant, they become epic heroes in spite of themselves. I first read Watership Down at the age of 8, and it hit me with all the force of an ancient myth. I remember thinking that one day, I wanted to write a book as good as this. I loved it even more when I re-read it as an adult, and realised how deeply it had influenced me.

2. Matilda by Roald Dahl

I couldn't get enough Roald Dahl as a child. He didn't seem like one of those adults who was always telling you how to behave. Instead, I felt he was on our side, one of us. Like all children, he had a very sharp sense of power. His heroes and heroines are oppressed by bigger, stronger people, and yet they come through. Matilda is a fantastic character: a little girl who is repeatedly patronised and under-estimated, but outwits everyone to get what she wants. And the root of her power is reading! I find that hugely satisfying.

3. The hobbits in The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

In a world full of wizards and warriors and magical elves… it's the smallest, least conventionally heroic characters who save the day. I devoured Tolkien's epic when I was 11. It had a massive impact on me, increased by Peter Jackson's wonderful films. I cry every time at that scene at the end, where the newly-crowned King Aragorn bows down to the hobbits – and every single hero of Middle Earth follows suit.

4. Spiderman by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

All my stories have a strand of superhero mythology in their DNA, because I've always loved comics as well as books. I think they taught me visual as well as verbal literacy – and, of course, unlikely heroism. Spiderman was my favourite, because Peter Parker was so useless in real life. He could never even claim the rewards of his heroism, because he had to keep his identity secret! I relished that irony as a teenager, and still do.

5. Ged in the Earthsea books by Ursula Le Guin

I discovered the Earthsea books at university, where my friends and I decided children's literature was far more interesting than grown-up literary fiction. That was when I got serious about writing children's books, and Le Guin was an inspiration, because she showed what they could do. Ged is a very unlikely hero. In the first book, he's an outsider who gets everything wrong, and pays a terrible price. By the third, he's become the quietest, most unglamorous hero imaginable; someone who does almost nothing, except the one thing that's absolutely necessary to save the world.

6. Lyra in His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

The first two books that I wrote were rejected by every publisher in the land. I got rejections telling me there was no market for children's fantasy. (This was before Harry Potter.) Then I came across the first book of Philip Pullman's trilogy, and knew the world was about to change. It was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to write: a hugely ambitious epic myth, with an irresistible central character. Lyra Silvertongue's heroism comes from making up stories. Isn't that every writer's dream?

7. Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson

It's hard to think of a more unlikely heroine than Tracy Beaker. She's the kind of character who stories were never written about until Jacqueline Wilson did it. She's also one of the most emotionally affecting characters, because she is so constantly and vehemently denying her own emotions. I think JW is one of the most skilful, subtle writers we have; she does things with unreliable narrators that Nabakov would envy.

8. Mowgli in The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling

I struggle with Kipling's politics, but I'm mesmerised by his writing. The Jungle Books have all the elements I want my books to have: beautifully textured poetic prose, a richly imagined world, potent emotions, big ideas, page-turning action, and at their heart, a magnificent unlikely hero. Mowgli will never be as strong or swift as the animals around him – yet he becomes their leader, because he can look them in the eye. The Jungle Books were always by my side as I wrote Varjak Paw, and Kipling remains a fixed point for me as a writer, like the north star, reminding me of what I want to do.

9. Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

While I was writing Phoenix, I wondered if today's readers would recognise its mythic references, but Rick Riordan has made Greek myth accessible to such a wide audience. And Percy is a classic unlikely hero. He's dyslexic, has ADHD – and yet he's a demigod. Fantastic! I also love the banter in these books; the dialogue is as sharply-written as Buffy The Vampire Slayer (who is, of course, another favourite unlikely heroine…)

10. Katniss in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I'm in the early stages of writing my next book now – and yes, it features an unlikely hero! So it's good to read stories which remind me how exciting that can be. I love Katniss as a character. She's always up against enormous odds. She prevails partly because Suzanne Collins had the genius idea of making her deadly with the bow and arrow; but more, because of her amazing resilience. Whatever life throws at Katniss Everdeen, she keeps going, and never gives up. I find that very inspiring, because that's exactly what you need if you want to write books.