Cecelia Ahern joked that she is "a very weird person" on Friday night's Late Late Show as she spoke about her empathetic nature.
The best-selling Irish author, who has sold over 25 million books worldwide, told host Ryan Tubridy about being an "introvert-extrovert" and how it helps her writing.
"I am a very weird person," she said with a laugh. "Like, I love to be with people, I am a sociable person, I am not locked in my house all the time.
"It's as well as being an empathetic person that you can take on all the stuff of other people…so I do feel like I can take on the energies of other people and just feel absolutely exhausted.
"I love to be with other people but then I need to be alone to just recharge."
The 40-year-old novelist said she didn't fully understand that aspect of her personality when she began writing, but that her naturally empathetic disposition has always informed her books.
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"I didn't understand it when I started writing first," she explained. "You know, I was so young at 21 [when] I wrote P.S. I Love You.
"I am a highly sensitive, empathetic person. When somebody is telling me about something, or when I am with someone, I can feel what they are feeling.
"It's not magic, it's just lots of people are like that, and I feel like I kind of have the emotion then that they're expressing.
"You know like, I can feel like I can feel it, which helps my writing. Observation obviously is a really huge part of that as well, just watching people and kind of feeling what they are feeling."
"I don't think I'm shy," she added. "I forget sometimes that people can see me - I'm so busy watching people I forget that I'm in the room. I love listening and learning from people."
The prolific author shared her biggest tip for people who want to write.
"I love watching people who are listening," she said. "Not the person who is doing all the talking because they know everyone is looking at them. I find myself just naturally looking at other people around the room and you know the expressions give everything away.
"People always give everything away in their movements and their expressions. The older I get, I realise I get stuff and material from just watching people.
"The person who is talking presumes that everyone is looking at them, it's the audience that I like to watch."
Ahern enthused about her newfound love of Lego which she developed while in lockdown.
"I love Lego! I think it is only since my kids started playing Lego, then I kind of took over. I'd begin it with them. And they would have long left the table and I would still be like working it out.
"But lockdown, you know, some people baked bread, but my thing was to do this massive Hogwarts Lego. That was my one big project.
"I loved it and it was such good therapy. I think I did about an hour every evening for a few weeks."
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The Dublin writer also spoke about the TV adaptation of her book of short stories Roar, produced by and starring Nicole Kidman, which is now available to watch on Apple TV.
"It took a while, but we got there, and I am really, really proud of it. Yeah, it's a career highlight."
The Late Late Show airs Friday nights at 9.35pm on RTÉ One.
