shot behind the winner. if someone had told me at the start of the year you would finish third and second in your first two events i would have said i will take that. but being in the positions i've been in, and having two close calls the first couple of weeks of the year, it's a little difficult and i think the competitor in me is very disappointed right now, i wanted to win, i always want to win. and i didn't do enough when i needed to. england's netballers beat south africa to claim the runners up spot in the quad series. they held off a fightback injohannesburg to secure their best ever finish in the tournament. world champions australia beat new zealand earlier to regain the trophy. cheshire phoenix have won the british basketball league cup finalfor the first time in their history, beating worcester wolves 99—88 at the birmingham arena. cheshire led the wolves byjust a point at half time. but they asserted their dominance in the third quarter, storming to a iii—point lead. worcester fought back in the closing stages, but were unable to close the gap. in the women's cup final

nottingham wildcats beat caledonia pride by 70—66. they were beaten in their first ever final last year but came through a close finish to take the title this time. that's all from sportsday. there'll be more sport here on bbc news over the evening. now it's time for meet the author. there is something about louisa clarke, lou, that has turned the novels of jojo moyes into international bestsellers. she's a heroine whose life appeals to readers who do not want to let her go. now, after me before you and after you comes still me, in which lou fetches up in new york in a different world, as personal assistant to a socialite whose rich family holds out a few secrets. what will happen to lou's old boyfriend, paramedic sam, when she meets and falls for an american who bears a spooky resemblance to an old flame she knew before sam? if you are a reader who follows lou, you will want to know. welcome.

what do you think it is about lou that makes her such a compelling character for your readers? i think she's an everywoman, the fact she is on the surface such an ordinary person makes it very easy for a wide variety of people to identify with her, but she also has an inherent goodness. not necessarily a niceness, because she can be sharp. but there is no snark to her, and in an age of snarkiness, people find that refreshing. in this book she is transported to a newjob in new york, and she finds herself in a family, a slightly weird family — of course, because that's what stories are made of —

and she is thrown into the social whirl of very rich new york life. of course, it is completely beyond her experience. part of the joy of having a character you can revisit is to put them in an alien landscape. there's not much more alien than the fifth avenue social world. something i found interesting about louisa's position is that when you enter the world of the very rich or the super—rich, they are people who have become accustomed to having people living around them, they are observed at all times yet they have to live as if they are not. there is that inherent tension between the people who are serving them and the people who are living, that i find really interesting. without going into details, i don't want to spoil the plot for those who will enjoy reading the book, but it all comes unstuck for her in a pretty terrifying way.

it's sort of put back together again, which fulfils your reassuring criterion, but i like the description of the everywoman, because you do sense that this is somebody who is going through something we can all imagine. we can feel what it's like for her. exactly, when i write louisa i try to really put the reader into her shoes. you feel things as she feels them, it's almost like, i don't know, inhabiting someone‘s skin, and that's quite different if you are writing in third person. i found it very easy to pull people along with louisa. we are inside louisa, lou, her love life is a bit of a mess in this situation, in new york. sam the paramedic, who is her man is back in london, he turns up. that's all very nice but she has an encounter with someone who reminds her of another man. i don't think it's too much of a spoiler to sayjosh reminds her of will, but when i speak to people

who have lost someone close to them, they see them everywhere. that can be quite discombobulating, because i think you don'tjust see them in the street, you project onto them, and i think that is something that happens a bit in this book. do you ever find yourself getting a bit fed up of her? this is the third outing, clearly she's very successful so you are fond of her in that sense, but do you ever think, oh, no, i must think of something else for her to do? that's it, this is the third book, from the day i knew i was writing book two i saw it as a trilogy, a horseshoe shaped trilogy. so that is it. i actually felt really sad to let her go because you know what it's like, some characters come to life immediately, others you can write a third of a book and still not be entirely sure who they are and that can be really frustrating because they don't lift off the page in the right way. with lou, as with will in the first book, they landed fully formed in my lap.

i knew what their responses would be in any situation and that made it an easy thing to write. it's a great gift for an author to have that sense of the character, fully formed. how did that come about? what was it about her that allowed you to have that clear idea of how she would respond to any challenge? it was quite bizarre, i sometimes have scenes enter my head, and it was the scene in the first book where they are dancing at a wedding and she is sitting on his lap, a man in a motorised wheelchair, she slow dances with him at a wedding to the appalled fascination of the other guests, and he says to her, because she's sort of here — you would have never let those breasts so close to me if i hadn't been in a wheelchair, and she says you would not have noticed my breasts if you hadn't been in a wheelchair. and in those two sentences i knew who they both were and how well they understood each other. it's interesting that you describe that scene almost in filmic terms.

are you one of those writers who almost imagines in a way that you are behind a camera, which is moving and picking up scenes? absolutely. i have to play a scene through filmically in my head to see if it will work. i lie on the floor of my office and i run through lots of different varieties. there are writers who, and it's quite difficult to understand this, but who don't see it in that way, don't see it like a stage where people are walking in and off and the camera moving. but they have some sort of different mental process. it's quite a difficult thing to grasp. i'm always fascinated by how other writers do it because you just never know. i don't understand writers who don't plot, i can't imagine the fear of stepping off into the unknown and not knowing roughly where your characters will land. some writers say they are terrified by the idea of having it all written out, with the arc of the story, or whatever cliche we choose to apply. they must set off on to the wide ocean and see where the boat ends up. you can't do that?

i have a rough idea. four times out of five, it will deviate quite significantly. you will invent things as you go. characters run away with the plot and all the rest, but i have to have a rough idea of theme if nothing else. my constant question to myself is, what is the story really about? i'm sure if there were a group of readers here, they would say to you, if they were keen on the books and had enjoyed them, they would say, why are you taking her away? and they would ask you the inevitable question authors are doomed to answer, what happens to her afterwards? i quite like the idea that that might be in the reader's imagination. me before you was an odd book because it was peculiarly open ended, we ended up with her walking away in a street in paris, and ifound i kept asking myself the question, what would happen to you after being part of such a catastrophic life—changing event? if you were part of somebody ending their life, you could not

walk away from that with a bounce in your stride. even if you thought you were 0k, it would come back with a terrible kind of profound resonance in your life. that was really the question — what happens next? i feel like she's done now. i don't want people to think i'm flogging a stripey legged dead horse, so i might revisit her in a short story one day... ah! but as far as novels go, that's it. readers are free to imagine she lives more or less happily ever after. i think they will have to read the book and decide where that goes. jojo moyes, author of still me, thank you very much. thank you so much. hello, good evening, a very mild

weekend will give way to something a bit chillier over the next few days. the mild areas to the south of this band of rain, pushing southwards overnight, some heavy rain for a while across scotland, northern ireland and then later coming into north—west england and north wales. to the south, cloudy, blustery winds, very mild, to the north of that band of rain we have some chilly air beginning to arrive. that band of rain on that weather front continuing to push southwards on monday, the last of the mild air getting squeezed away into the near continent and something a bit colder will follow on behind. we will head into the mild air in the morning, very mild start once again across southern parts of england into wales, the midlands, cross to lincolnshire where it will be driver the most part, nine or 10 degrees. mid and north wales, some rain coming in, heavier rain over the hills of north—west england. behind that we are into the chillier air where there will be showers around

and it's probably just where there will be showers around and it's probablyjust about cold enough to give some snow over the higher ground in scotland. this band of rain continues to push southwards during the day heading across wales into southern england, more in the afternoon, where there will be gusty winds for while. late sunshine in wales through the midlands, sunny skies in the north away from the showers in the north—west. a range of temperatures on monday. still mild in the south, ii or 12 degrees. as the rain clears away the skies clear and it will be quite chilly early tuesday, across more southern and south—eastern areas where in the countryside there may be a frost around. here a bright start with sunshine on tuesday. through the day for many of us the winds are light but we will see cloud increasing and temperatures around 6—8d, so a bit chillier. we have some rain later in the day, this rain in the south—west are bit half—hearted, the more significant rain comes back into scotland and northern ireland during the evening, that weather front sweeps the evening, that weather front swee ps a cross the evening, that weather front

sweeps across the whole country overnight allowing us to push down another plunge of colder air, the winds, all the way from the north—west, and this is colder air than we are going to see on monday. so it is turning colder, probably from about mid week onwards, and it will feel cold in the winds, there could be some gales, and with the colder air some wintry showers. this is bbc news, i'm martine croxall, the headlines at eight. police release an image of a man they want to speak to over the deaths of three teenagers who were hit by a car in west london on friday. leave campaigners in the conservative party step up pressure on the prime minister. they want her to take a harder line with the eu. the leader of russia's main opposition party is arrested, along with more than 200 other protesters. the founder of the swedish furniture giant ikea, ingvar kamprad, has died at the age of 91. also in the next hour — victory for roger federer in melbourne. the world number two wins his sixth australian open and 20th grand slam title with a five—set victory

over marin cilic. and the travel show discovers why sinkholes are appearing near the dead sea. that's in half an hour here on bbc news.