MOST writers start with a story in their mind, or perhaps a character they just have to bring to the page.

For Maggie Whitley, though, it all began with a title.

"Everyone says that is a massive no-no, but I have always started my books with the title," says Maggie, who is working on her sixth self-published novel.

"I get a ping moment, I get the title, sit down and write," says the 61-year-old from Riccall, south of York.

Her latest book is titled Cuddles & Custard and tells the story about a middle-aged woman who loses her job and begins offering companionship and cuddles – to elderly gentlemen for cash.

It's funny rather than smutty, insists Maggie, and certainly not explicit in the mode of Fifty Shades of Grey. More sort of Fifty shades of custard, then? Maggie chuckles, and adds: "Feels on wheels."

"It is laugh out loud, but there are serious issues about how isolated and lonely people can become and how a cuddle or just holding hands can do so much.

"One reader said it captured the devastation of being lonely superbly."

The novel is about Alice Coulter. "She is overweight and in her 50s," says Maggie. "She works in a factory threatened with closure and her husband is a sloth who has never worked properly because he has a bad back, allegedly. Her life revolves around popping in next door to look after an elderly widower and keeping an eye on him."

When the neighbour dies, Maggie's relationship with him falls under scrutiny, with questions raised about exactly what went on between them, and whether it was to her financial benefit.

This is Maggie's first book for adults. Her previous four, The Kettle Quartet, were fantasy fiction aimed at children aged between eight and 13.

She began writing after taking early retirement from the civil service, where she worked for 30 years.

She said: "I have always been an avid reader, catholic in taste. I love the classics and have reread Dickens and Anthony Trollope, but also love to sit down and read books about serial killers such as the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and good detective stories."

Writing is very much a hobby. "Once I have written one, I want to get on to writing the next."

This is already happening. "I am about to start another book, again for adults, about three sisters who are reunited at their father's funeral after being estranged for years.

"They decide that perhaps a week away together in an American Winnebago might mend some wounds. It will be darker – but there will be humour in; I always write with humour."

Maggie Whitley's novels are available on Amazon