Nix would drop in every afternoon, the librarians knew him by name, they'd have books waiting for him, authors he liked, the next book in a series. "I'm very grateful to the Canberra library service," says Nix.

Nix, now a best-selling and award-winning fantasy author, was born in Melbourne but moved to Canberra soon after. After finishing primary and high school – "both had fantastic libraries" – he went on to the University of Canberra, graduating in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing.

There he mixed with students such as Lenore Taylor, Karen Middleton, Andree Stephens, who all went on to have prominent journalism careers. Did journalism ever interest him?

"I've always been more interested in making up my own stuff," he says. Which, some might say, would have made him perfect for journalism.

So he started creating stories, worlds, characters. He was constantly writing. "But I had enough common sense to realise I would need a day job."

So, he got a job with Teki and Margaret Dalton at their Canberra bookstore. "Dalton's was a fun place to work. Badly paid, of course, like all book-selling jobs," he says. "But it had a spiral staircase we could slide down and land in front of customers to ask 'Can I help you?' and the staff could buy books on account at a healthy discount.

"Looking back, I now realise that many of the things I have learned about books and the book business come from that time."

There were many aspiring writers on staff. Felicity Packard, who went on to write the script for Underbelly; Jennifer Higgie, the artist and novelist now based in London. "Everyone was interested in books and we had book-loving customers."

Nix knew then he wanted to work in publishing and left Dalton's to become a sales representative and then an editorial assistant, working his way up through various grades of editor. All the while, working by day, writing by night and on weekends. In 1998, he got a major American book deal and quit working to write full time.

"And I kind of regretted it because, even though I had this great deal, and it was what I always wanted, I wrote less in that year than I ever had. I got to thinking, 'now I'm a full-time writer, I've got so much time, I'll just do it tomorrow'."

At the end of that year he went back to work as a part-time literary agent with Curtis Brown, "getting back on an even keel".

By that stage his books were being noticed worldwide and in 2001 he quit working again to concentrate on his writing. "I loved being an agent but I couldn't balance the two. I couldn't say to a client I can't read your manuscript because I'm going on tour for my book."

It all sounds something like a fairytale. Small boy stumbles into a magical library, where stories, his stories sometimes, come alive. An adventure about a spirited lad who created magical worlds.

A fairytale. And that's what Nix's latest book is, a fairytale. Frogkisser. The story of a feisty princess who has to save the kingdom from her evil step-step-father by heading out on a quest to find the ingredients for Transmogrification Reversal Lip Balm. Every fairytale needs a good quest, especially ones led by spirited young women.

"There's such an enormous mass of books through history where women don't take charge," says Nix. "Obviously that has changed enormously but there's still plenty of room, if you want to write something a little bit different, for princesses to be rescuing themselves.

"I'm always interested in trying to reverse stereotypes or look at them in different ways. It makes for a fresher and more interesting story.

"With fairytales and folk tales and fables, trying to keep the core strength of their mythic quality but doing something a little different with them. Mythic strength but fresh and new, that's the attraction."

Frogkisser is published by Allen & Unwin at $19.99.