Delighted to share a Q&A by MBC’s Sarah Broadley and fantastic children’s author Clare Harlow! Read on to discover what went on behind the scenes with her debut Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit and how the book came to be!
- Shelwich seems like a nice quiet seaside town until we delve into Nimble Lane and the predicaments Ista faces. Can you share with us the world you’ve created and how you navigated the landscape the characters would take?
The idea for a world where magic rises and falls with the tide came to me one misty winter afternoon when I was walking by the river. There was a moment when the water splashed up onto the footpath in front of me, and I just thought What if…? The whole story flowed (sorry, forgive the pun) from there, and lots of local landmarks made their way into it, although all with added layers of strangeness or danger.
- The Grilks in your story are fantastically elusive and creepy, how did you come up with them as (one) of the antagonists in Tidemagic?
I’d say elusive and creepy are the key words for the grilks. They only appear when it’s dark and misty and the Tide is high. At the start of the story, no one has seen them clearly and lived to tell the tale. For me, that’s a crucial part of what makes the grilks scary. It creates gaps that have to be filled by the reader’s imagination.
- Ista certainly has a lot on her plate and her friends come into her life in many ways, was it always the intention for her to have adversaries in her quest?
Oh yes, definitely. I wanted Ista to have lots of adversaries and lots of allies. She starts the story pretty much alone (with the crucial exception of Giddon and Padley) and she has to learn who she can trust and who she can’t. By the end of book one, she’s figured out who’s on her side and who isn’t, although she hasn’t found everything she was looking for, she’s part of a team and a community – which, of course, raises the stakes for book 2.
- The Skylark Fantastic Fiction competition catapulted your story into the hands of publishers and agents in the literary world, can you tell us how it all worked out for you?
The competition gave me a fresh chance to impress Amber Caravéo at Skylark, who had given me encouraging rejections for previous stories. I was over the moon when she offered me representation. I was more of a ‘pantser’ than a plotter back then, so the first draft of Tidemagic had some pesky plot-holes, which Amber patiently helped me fix. Then we sent out the manuscript, and I feel like it’s been a dream since then. I can’t imagine a better home for Ista than with Puffin in the UK and Knopf in North America.
- Seeing your characters come to life on the page in the incredible illustrations by Karl James Mountford must have been quite a moment for you. How much input did you have? Can you explain the process of the collaboration between author and illustrator for this project?
Karl is one of my favourite illustrators, so I couldn’t believe my luck when my editor asked if I thought he’d be a good fit for Tidemagic. The real collaboration has been between Karl and designers Jan Bielecki and Arabella Jones. They asked me for notes on characters, locations and key moments in the story, then went away and made magic. They even turned my terrible sketch of a map into a thing of beauty.
- Is there an Ista book 2 heading to our shores? What’s next for Clare Harlow?
There is absolutely an Ista book 2! I can’t say anything about it, except that it’s already written and will hit the shelves next May. In the meantime, I’m about to finish my MA in Writing for Young People, and then I’d better get cracking with book 3. I’ve also got some fun Tidemagic events coming up, some already announced, some still top secret – search for @clareharlowthewriter on Instagram if you’d like more info about those.
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Read Sarah Broadley’s review here:
Author Bio: Once upon a time, Clare was an actor, touring theatres all over the UK and Ireland. A few years ago, she turned her love of storytelling from stage to page and became a writer, too. She lives in southeast London, where she spends a lot of time walking by the river in the hope that a little Tidemagic might rub off on her.
