When I began writing my latest book, Where the Dragon Waits, I didn’t think it would end up with quite so many animal characters. In fact, I was determined that it wouldn’t. All my previous books had been “animal fantasy” books, which involved characters who were as much like actual animals as I could get them, living in worlds that were recognisably like the wild, and dealing with the sorts of problems that wild animals face. And while I loved writing those books, this time I wanted a change. It was going to be very different, oh yes. This time I would write a book that was just “fantasy”: fantasy without the “animal” bit. And it worked. Sort of.

Animal fantasy and fantasy are related, of course. Both types of stories work by putting characters into dangerous situations so they can have exciting adventures full of real peril, and in which we get to see the sorts of people they are. And because both are based in a fantasy world that is very different from the real human world, readers don’t need to worry about these particular exciting adventures ever happening to them. My first published book, for example was The River Singers and the characters were water voles trying not to get eaten by a mink. This could only happen to you under very unlikely and extremely unfortunate circumstances. And in fantasy books in general the reader doesn’t usually have to worry about being cursed, eaten by trolls or killed on a battlefield fighting a goblin army, and so they can enjoy scary situations, knowing they won’t face them. But I digress. The point here is that I have always written fantasy books, but this time I wanted my characters to be human.

It started well. The idea for Where the Dragon Waits arrived like a gift. I recall being at home on the sofa with an image in my mind. I can’t remember if it had come from a dream or just a random Tuesday afternoon thought, but it left an impression. As I sat there I could see  a scene of two people in beds next to each other. They were unconscious and it was as thought I was looking down at them from a height, through a lens or a circular mirror or something. It arrived randomly, as I say, but immediately hooked me. And I felt that thrill that says “This is the end of an unknown story, and I am going to tell it”. I had no idea yet what the story was, only that it involved an accident.

So I took the idea and wrote a bit of that end scene, just so I knew what I was aiming for. And next I set about writing the accident that starts the adventure: a nasty boat crash in which the main character, Ed, is lost in the waves. That was followed by a scene in which Ed wakes on a strange beach next to a girl called Steff who he has never met before. And admittedly they get chased off the beach by a wall of sinister butterflies but importantly none of the butterflies talked. So that was a good start. Excellent work, Tom.

But then I let my guard down. I wrote a passage where Ed and Steff climb off the beach and immediately meet a giant, armoured pangolin called Astolpho. And yes, he talks. In fact he talks quite a lot and spends quite a lot of the book complaining about things, including rust. But he is really a sweetheart, and I enjoyed Astolpho, so that’s okay.

And after Astolpho I decided to invent a substantial number of talking wolves. You know, because who doesn’t like talking wolves? It’d be rude not to include talking wolves, if you ask me. One of them is called Halfear and he may or may not be friendly, trustworthy or helpful – but he is at least reliably sarcastic. And having opened the floodgates it only seemed reasonable to write (and I think this isn’t too much of a spoiler) a fair bit involving an actual dragon. And, um, yes, the dragon might have had a word or two to say.

So I completely failed. My non-animal-fantasy book ended up stuffed to the gills with talking beasts. But you know what? I’m perfectly fine with that. I really am. Because, you see, none of those characters was really an animal. They started out being very different and ended up as animals for reasons that become clear as the story unfolds. That is my rationalisation and I’m sticking to it.

So that’s how Where the Dragon Waits came into being. I’m incredibly proud of this story of mine. Even – and I want to make this absolutely clear – even if does contain some rather opinionated wildlife.

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Many thanks to Tom for this insight into the Where the Dragon Waits a title for Key Stage 2 or Lower Key Stage 3.  You can find out more about this title along with some of Tom’s other children’s fiction using the links below.