Word-Building Q&A
Hello! We’re talking all things word building today! Could you start by telling us what it’s like to write the second book in a series?
One of the joys of a series is the opportunity to return to a much-loved world and to explore it in more detail. The magic of return was something I felt very sharply while I was writing Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea, as I came back to Daisy’s story and expanded the world she moves through.
I’ve always known that the Greenwild was made up of a vast, international network of magical ‘pockets’, where Botanists practice plant magic – but in the new book, Daisy and her friends discover a hidden ocean kingdom called Iffenwild, which is full of marine plants and water magic. I loved the challenge of creating a city steeped in the enchantment of the sea: a place of dolphin-filled canals, glittering harbours, and high, spiralling shell towers.
Greenwild: The World Behind the Door is full of fascinating plants, from snake-headed hydra plants to wishing pomegranates. What are your favourite plants from the new book?
Because so much of Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea is about the magic of the ocean, I was able to play with all the richness and strangeness of the marine plants and sea life. In Iffenwild, you will find . . .
- Siren reeds: water reeds with the ability to create music of such surpassing beauty that they can lure the unsuspecting passers-by into their lethal underwater clutches
- Coral reefs: vast, colourful reefs that can act as protective barriers around cities – while also feeding on the bones of drowned sailors
- Kelp forests: enormous underwater forests of kelp that flower with astonishing blue flowers in the spring, sending giant bubbles of oxygen towards the surface
- Kelpies: mythical water horses with silvery-green manes and tails. Kelpies can gallop over the surface of the water when the moon shines on the sea
What was your favourite part of the writing process?
The greatest joy of writing the second book was introducing a second point-of-view character. Max Brightly is twelve years old, spiky and angry and grieving – and I loved getting to write his journey as he explores Iffenwild and discovers more about himself.
There is also a very eccentric travelling theatre troupe, who sail all over the Greenwild in a fleet of canal boats, performing Shakespeare to the masses. I fell in love with the whole crew of them, from the larger-than-life captain, Alexei, to the fabulous Russian wardrobe mistress, Rozaliya. I want to run away and join them!
Thank you to Pari Thompson for taking part in this Q&A and for giving us a wonderful insight into the world of Greenwild.
- Greenwild – The City Beyond The Sea is out now from Macmillain Children’s Books. RRP. £12.99 (Copy of the book received in exchange for taking part in this promotional blog tour)
