The AuthorQ & ATop Reader Questions for Alison

Alison Croggon Answers Pellinor Readers’ Questions

When, where, and how did you first get the idea of writing the Books of Pellinor?

I think I first had the idea when I was ten. One of my earliest ambitions as a writer was to write a fantasy series. It only took, well, thirty-five years to happen! I sat down and started The Naming one morning in 1999, literally with no idea in my head. I had a character called Maerad, and then along came a character called Cadvan. After a while I realized I had written eighty pages. I had no idea what was going to happen to them, and really finished the book to find out. It’s very dangerous to write a sentence; you never know where it will lead you….

How long does it generally take you, from start to finish, to write one of the books?

Each book has taken about a year. I usually write the first draft fairly quickly, but there are rewrites and so on.

Why did you choose this age group to write for?

I have children myself, and I like them and their friends. And I remember what it was like being young. But mainly I wanted to write for young people because they are the people who will inherit this world, and at the time I started writing these books I was feeling a bit disillusioned with people of my age. These books are about things that I think matter – what it means to grow up and find out who you are, what it means to be part of a society, to love, to hate, to encounter difference. Most of all, I think they’re about the struggle to be humane in a world that is too often inhumane. And I hope that if those things matters to me, they might matter to others too.

Will the Pellinor series become a movie?

That’s not up to me at all. There have been a couple of inquiries, but nothing serious, and I’m not holding my breath! It takes a lot of money to make a movie. If it does happen, I just hope that they preserve the spirit of the books.

If you could be one character in the book, who would you be and why?

In a way, I’ve been every character in the book, because I had to imagine them. I wouldn’t be any of them – they have a terrible time! I think I would like to be a Bard in a peaceful place like Thorold.

You have created a whole world of Annaren society through fictional narrative, but you have taken one step further and presented “the lost civilization of Edil-Amarandh” as a historical reality. What are the reasons behind this creative decision?

The editorial pose initially came about because it was a way of putting in details about this world without encumbering the story with annoying exposition. And then it was actually a lot of fun – a “conceit,” as it is called – to create a whole new field of contemporary academic study. It allows me to poke gentle fun at my friends.

A trilogy in four parts? Are you a fan of Douglas Adams, or have there been some changes from the original plan?

It was originally planned as a trilogy. But very soon after I began The Riddle, it became clear that either the second book – the “middle act” – had to be two books, or it would be 900 pages long. I wanted all the books to be roughly the same length, and it neatly divided in two, so the trilogy became a tetralogy. And I kind of like the symmetries – it’s four books, each in four parts.

What are the best/worst parts of being an author?

The best bit is spending my life doing what I love best and not being beholden to anyone else. That is also the worst part. It means I can’t blame anyone else when things go wrong!

If you could live anywhere in Edil-Amarandh, where would it be?

I’d like to live in Innail. Though Thorold sounds like a lot of fun. And Turbansk is definitely fantastic! I think I’d travel a lot.

Was there ever a character that just sprang up in your imagination, and you had to fit that character into the story?

Quite often characters just turn up out of nowhere. It’s one of the mysterious things about writing novels. Once they open their mouths, they’re real and there, and then they start doing things, and if you’re not careful they’ll take over the story. It’s a wide misconception that authors are in charge of what happens in a novel; the truth is, the characters decide.

Who made the maps?

I did the originals. The very beautiful maps printed in the books are made by Niroot Puttapipat.

Did you write the poems for each “part” of the book before, during, or after writing the rest of the text?

Some were written before, but for the most part, I do them last.

What research did you have to do?

None at all, because I made it all up! Actually, that’s only half true. I researched details, like dog-sledding for The Riddle, because I wanted them to seem credible and real.

Do you get nervous waiting for a publisher to get back to you about a book?