Illustrated by Rory Walker
Published by Everything with Words
Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for the second hilarious adventure for the Narzat – and this one’s got pirates! Today, I’m sharing a post from the author, Luke Marchant, about his inspiration for including pirates in this new adventure for the Narzat.
What inspired me to write about pirates
Why are pirates so fascinating? Because they Arr!
If you haven’t said that line out loud in a suitably pirate-y voice, please go back and do it again. Go on. I’ll wait for you.
That’s better! You see, pirates are many things—dangerous, naughty, villainous, adventurous and more—but above all… they’re great fun! They are the ultimate rule-breakers, and the moment you see them turn up in a story, you know that there’s going to be trouble afoot. There’s something timeless about a brutal buccaneer.
I’d finished the Narzat and I’d been faced with a bit of a problem. The first book had two dastardly villains, and I needed someone or something that could match them in terms of danger and deviousness. Luckily, an answer passed my eyes that day.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. What? You mean a pirate walked past you that day? Whatever! Well, in actual fact, hundreds of pirates passed me that day. You see, the Brixham Pirate Fest was happening that very week. Hundreds of pirates (or people dressed as pirates, it’s always hard to tell) were catching the bus, checking their phones or—in the case of one bearded gentleman— doing their hair in the reflection of a shop window. Apart from a range of spectacular costumes, there was something indescribably fun about a huge gaggle of pirates.
I had my answer. Why try to find two more dangerous villains, when I could have a whole crew of them? I’d always loved pirates and their adventures growing up—and the idea started to grow. I set about reading Treasure Island for further inspiration (as an aside, I love the links to Tarzan from the first book, so it was great to visit another classic adventure story for the sequel).
But, with this being the Jumble Jungle Wood, my pirates needed a bit of a twist. The image of a huge and ghostly pirate ship stalking across the tree-tops of the jungle-wood started to emerge, and the Shifting Shadow began to take shape. It was great fun creating the motley crew of Jungle Pirates themselves—some of them are downright fierce and fearsome (such as the mysterious Captain Carver, and the cunning Gloom Badger) and others are utter scoundrels (I doubt you’d want to run into the explosive ba-baboon or a giant tiger-gator on the high seas)! And maybe, just maybe, there’s more to some of them than meets the eye…
Above all, I wanted the jungle-pirates to be a group of baddies that readers (young and old) would remember—the type of villains that inspire laughter and booing alike. There’s something wonderfully fun about a real scoundrel.
And how do you know you are enjoying reading about these pirates? Because you Arr!
Thank you so much to Luke for providing me with this post and for Mikka at Everything with Words for inviting me to be part of the Blog Tour.
Do check out the other stops on the Blog Tour:
Book Craic 