Inspired by civil wars, the Ring Wraith, and a lack of badass girl knights.
This festive weekend, take a look behind-the-scenes at the inspiration for three wild and wonderful MG stories: Soldier Spy, by Cathy Johnson, Fire Breathing Humans, by Liam Kelly and Ragestone, by Karen Millar.
Soldier Spy, by Cathy Johnson
Upper MG Historical. In 197AD Britannia, fourteen-year-old motherless half Celt, Taran, is desperate to earn his centurion father’s respect and become a soldier on Hadrian‘s Wall. When his father is posted overseas, Taran snitches on a Celtic uprising, hoping to join him. Instead, he is ordered to journey along the wall, spying on the tribes. When runaway best friend, Marcus, the Roman commander's son, is kidnapped, Taran is forced to turn double agent to save him. A road trip and buddy story, but most of all, a search for identity and home during a civil war. Boy, Everywhere meets Roman Mysteries, in the iconic World Heritage setting of The Eagle of the Ninth.
Cathy: When I was six I lived in a small town in Borneo that was surrounded by jungle. One day a group of terrorists entered the classroom where my father was teaching and tried (unsuccessfully) to recruit his pupils at knife point. Many years later, now married to a Sri Lankan Tamil man, I would hear tales of Tamil Tigers carrying out child soldier recruitment raids at gunpoint in rural schools in Tamil areas. I had the idea of writing a story about two friends who go on a road trip; an expat British boy and a displaced Tamil boy whose sister is a Tiger child soldier. However, I quickly decided I couldn’t tell a story set in Sri Lanka, but knew I was still interested in exploring the themes of civil war, belonging, and cultural identity confusion and I couldn’t get my two characters out of my head. We live near Hadrian’s Wall and my mother’s ancestry is from nearby, and I was playing with ideas for a historical novel when I realised that a story set during Roman occupation and a Celtic uprising would allow me to develop my earlier characters and themes. I hadn’t factored in all the extra months of historical research, museum visits and fact-finding walks along Hadrian’s Wall, of course, but the setting and period have worked really well for my two boys and their journeys; including that of their character development and friendship, as well as their physical journey.
Fire Breathing Humans, by Liam Kelly
Fire Breathing Humans is a gag filled MG fantasy adventure that turns the genre on its head, a reverse of The Hobbit, where a fellowship of monsters venture into the human lands. When ten-year-old Leif Larkin is exiled from his village for turning into a “giant demon bear,” he’s thrust upon an epic quest alongside the same monsters that he’s been raised to fear.
Liam: It was born from a daydream about what the Lord of the Rings would look like from the Ring Wraith’s POV. In their minds were they on a quest with their own fellowship? Did they sit around talking about how weird Hobbit feet are or trying to scare each other with camp side tales of the Grey Wizard? That developed into wanting to see a fellowship of monsters go on a quest into human lands. The title came from the theme, how many of us have ridiculous preconceived notions and prejudices about people we have never met.
Ragestone, by Karen Millar
Amara Wavebreaker has one goal in life: to become a seahorse-riding, swordfish-wielding sea-knight, defending Pointypeak Island from Badland pirates. No magic. Ever.
But Ragestone magic is rising and with it traitors and enemies who want its vast and ancient power for themselves. As threats of invasion and destruction grow, the magic gets ever wilder and more dangerous, threatening everyone and everything Amara loves. The islanders’ only hope is for somebody born with powerful magic to intervene. There is only one candidate…
Could the greatest enemy of all be the fear in Amara’s heart?
MG Fantasy similar to Geomancer and Fireborn.
Karen: The inspiration for Ragestone began with Jemima, who was 6 or 7 at the time, grumbling that there were never any girl knights in stories. I came up with the idea of ‘sea knights’ and she said they sounded cool - especially when they got to fight with swordfish and mk 1 hammerheads and ride to battle on magically-enhanced seahorses.
Some time later, as the storyworld evolved and an angry magic grew and enemies from the Badlands tried to steal it, my protagonist realised that if she didn’t embrace her powers everything she loved would be destroyed. And the seahorses got a magical makeover, to become outrageously powerful and thoroughly badass with a strong line in sassy backchat.
I love quirky characters with heart and resonance, and I love creating bonkers worlds and high stakes for those characters to explore and defend with everything they’ve got.
As for the badass seahorses, they seemed to appear fully-formed from nowhere. But, as FinZ (1st and mightiest) would say, ‘We ain't never going back there again. No way, stingray!’