The truth of where ideas come from is complex and sometimes it’s only with hindsight do you see they come from multiple places. So I have two answers. I started writing a TV sitcom about a family living on a farm.
A colleague suggested making the farm animals talk. When he said that, it was a lightning bolt in my brain and I realised I didn’t want to do anything about a farm or a sitcom. I wanted to write a story for children about talking animals, a story about the environmental chaos we’re in. The other reason is that when I was 12 years old I went on a summer holiday with my best friend to a tiny Scottish island.
We went on a walk, just us two boys, and it felt like a proper wilderness. As we walked along a cat came out of a barn and followed us. Then walked to a beach and we found a seagull with a broken wing; we decided to take it with us, hoping to find a vet.
So we had a cat and seagull then as we were having lunch a mouse came up to sniff it and the animals were so unused to people on the island that they weren’t even scared – so I picked the mouse up and put it in my pocket and then we saw a rabbit and picked him up. We got back to the town and everyone was like: “what are you doing?” All the animals were returned to their homes or the wild but somewhere this experience stuck in my mind. And anyone who has read The Last Wild or The Dark Wild will understand how much that inspired me!
Why did you decide to make a cockroach one of the most important characters in your books - most people don’t like cockroaches and I wondered if you thought it might put people off reading your book (by the way I soon forgot about thinking about a cockroach because I liked the character so much)
I think we need to value all nature not just the beautiful ones.There’s a lot of concern about the poster animals of the environmental movement but I happen to believe the crisis is more serious than that, that human beings are fundamentally changing the biodiversity on Earth and it doesn’t just effect rhinos and elephants and rare birds.
Cockroaches are nature’s recyclers, without cockroaches our ecology doesn’t work. I don’t want a cockroach in my house or crawling over my face but they are wonderful animals. They work together, they are very social with strong units. We need something to feed on waste or it just sits there.
I was surprised that Kester’s dad didn’t do more to try to get him out of Spectrum Hall. Did you ever think of making him try or would it have interrupted the story too much?
He really is trapped by the company that runs the world, Facto, and can’t escape. There is a problem with children’s adventure books. You have to find a believalbe way to keep the parents out of the action, otherwise we’re all asking what kind of parents are these that can’t look after their kids? As someone once said, “let’s think of all the mothers who have died in the name of a good story.” There are a lot of orphans in children’s books for this reason!
What made you choose prawn cocktail crisps as the Facto formula flavour? Do you hate them as much as my Dad does?
No it was my favourite flavour crisp. Every day after school I used to eat a packet of skips and an apple tango drink – and I loved them. But you can have too much of a good thing. And I ate so many I became virtually allergic to them.
We don’t know exactly when or where the stories are set. Did you have a time and a place in your mind?
I didn’t feel being specific was good for the story, it’s distracting. It’s set in the future, I’m guessing end of this century. It’s Britain but as an island that’s been reshaped by rising sea levels and mass migration.
Were you thinking about myxomatosis that killed rabbits when you invented the disease berry eye which kills the animals in your books?
A little bit. When I was growing up we used to find dead rabbits with red eyes and I’m a big fan of Richard Adams’ Watership Down. But I was really thinking about bird flu and ebola, that have spread so much because of modern transport and that people are so afraid of. I was also thinking about a fungal infection called Chytridiomycosis which seemed to start off killing just one species of frogs in South America and is now spreading all over the world. Scientists now say we are living in the age of the sixth extinction, where humans are the cause of so many animals dying out.
Do you think that too few companies have a monopoly over the food we buy?
Yes I do actually. I think we’ve become so separated by the food production process. I don’t think it’s inherently wrong to eat animals but I think the scale on which we eat them, and produce them is obscene. It’s a real problem. Feeding the world is the next big challenge.
Although I’m critical of fake food I think experiments with fake meat are interesting and that we need to have a broader discussion about GM crops. I think we can’t just keep on harvesting the Earth the way we are.
There are lots of messages in your books, which do you think is the most important?
The message I want children and anyone reading the books to take away, is to think about the world they live in a little more carefully. And to appreciate we live on a beautiful planet and should cherish it, how you do it is up to you. Here is my factoid: if you took the entire population of the world and stood them shoulder to shoulder we could all fit within the metropolitan area of Greater Los Angeles in the United States.
So, okay, there are lots of us but we are very wasteful in how we use resources and space and that’s part of the problem. Technology, good design and politics can overcome these problems. The solution is creating a fairer world where we all share resources more equally. I don’t have any answers and my views are changeable, I’m an author not a scientist, but I think it’s my job is to help children ask questions. You will be cleverer than adults who are around now.
I especially like the characters of Polly and Aida even though they are so very different. Are either of them based on any children you know?
When I come up with characters I take a mix of people I know, people I’ve come across in public life and characters from books that I love. I definitely didn’t want The Wild trilogy to be a boys’ adventure and I wanted substantial female characters. Polly I suppose is my country girl and Aida is my city girl, tougher on the outside. But I hope all my characters are vulnerable as well as strong.
Will the next book be the last in the Wild series or could the story go on and on?
It’s definitely a trilogy. The last book is going to be called The Wild Beyond and is out in April 2015, I’m just doing the final write now! I know what my next project is and I can’t reveal it yet but it’s going to be a standalone book. I’ve had so much fun writing this epic trilogy but my next book is going to be shorter.
The Dark Wild existed under the biggest rubbish dump we could imagine. Do you think there should be stricter laws about the amount of waste we create?
Absolutely I do, it’s a terrible problem. I did a lot of research into children in South America who live on and in rubbish dumps when I was writing The Dark Wild.
I really disliked Skuldis and Selwyn Stone but I couldn’t help feeling just a little bit sorry for Dagger. Did you intend your readers to feel like this or is it just because I love animals so much?
I’m glad you felt sorry for him. That’s what I wanted. There are a lot of dogs out there that are made to be aggressive but they’re not naturally, they are just mistreated. I don’t think people realise how big Dagger is meant to be. They imagine him something like a bull dog, but he’s really based on a massive dog called an Argentian Dogo.
What’s it like to win the Guardian children’s fiction award 2014?
It’s a joy to win but a little bit intimidating to join the list of past winners who include Jacqueiline Wilson, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Richard Adams! I’m nervous people are going to read the books and expect them to be prize winning and then find just the books they are. The fact that that this award is judged by authors makes it particularly amazing to win. The peer recognition is a real thrill.
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