The young adult/children's genre has always been of interest of me. They often feature these amazingly rich stories with great usage of fantasy element that allow you just dream of into them. The Tales of the Fayt is exactly like this. The Demon's Watch (book one) and The GOblin's Gift (book two) are amazing experiences for younger readers, they have a great set of protagonists and Conrad Mason uses the storyline and perspectives of the protagonists Joseph and Tabitha in a superb manner. Making it a journey of self-discovery, showing whats good and whats wrong, which will make the younger readers think twice when acting rash or being hard/bullying on someone. But above all the Tales of the Fayt is an piratesque adventure with the Half Goblin Joseph in the lead! It's magical, dynamic and a whole bunch of fun to read!
I was born in 1984, grew up in Oxford, went to school
in Abingdon and studied Classics at Cambridge. When I left I was sure I was
going to be an actor or a theatre director. The idea of writing a book hadn't
even crossed my mind.
I didn't get very far with acting, but I did manage to find a job in
publishing. I enjoyed it so much that I kept going. I became an editor at Usborne
and wrote books about dinosaurs, the
Second World War, polar bears... Did you know they have black skin? I know a
lot about polar bears. I was also a volunteer reader at a local school for
charity.
Somewhere along the way, I realised that what I'd loved about acting was
telling stories. And by writing, I could tell all of the story myself. It was like
being the actors and the director (and the playwright, producer and set
designer) all at the same time. I began getting up early every morning and
tapping away at my laptop. Two years later, I finished my first novel - The
Demon's Watch.
Nowadays I live in London with my girlfriend and work as an editor at Working
Partners, creating children's fiction. I like to read, run and play the
mandolin. Some of my favourite books are the Dirk Gently series by Douglas
Adams, Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan and the Arthur books by Bernard
Cornwell.
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Hi Conrad welcome to The Book Plank and for taking
your time to answer these few questions.
BP: First off,
could you tell us a bit more about yourself? What do you like to do in your
spare time, your work and hobbies?
CM: I
work most of the week for an awesome company which creates and sells children’s
fiction to publishers. We spend a lot of time sitting around and discussing
stories... I love it! I have one day spare for writing, and I also write in the
mornings before work and occasionally in the evenings and at weekends. I like
to squander what little spare time remains by playing mandolin or going for
runs if I’m feeling energetic. And I’ve just discovered Breaking Bad, which has
been a disaster for my productivity.
BP: Tales of the
Fayt has many fantasy elements, like the shapeshifters, Ogre’s, Trolls,
Goblins, Fairies and a lot more but it all is featured in a piratesque setting,
how did you come across this idea to write about?
CM:
I’ve had the basic idea knocking around for ages. I was a massive Tolkien fan
when I was young, and my family used to go to Cornwall every year on holiday. I
remember going for long walks along the cliffs during which I’d imagine being
attacked by elvish highwaymen, defending the beaches from shiploads of trolls,
discovering a magician who lived in a lighthouse...
BP: The Demon’s
Watch was your debut book. The whole story in The Goblin’s Gift feel much more
confident; did you approach writing the sequel in a different manner?
CM:
Thank you! I wrote the Goblin’s Gift in half the time because I had a
publishing contract for it and, hence, a deadline. I think that actually helped
in some ways. I wanted it to be a pacy adventure and writing it quickly gave it
a certain momentum. I also went down fewer blind alleys because I had more of
an idea what a blind alley looked like. Writing The Demon’s Watch was an
exploratory process because, to put it bluntly, I didn’t always know what I was
doing.
BP: Why did you
choose to start writing children’s books and not an adults book?
CM: Actually,
I didn’t know it would be a children’s book when I started it. I wanted to
write a big, swashbuckling adventure story with some funny bits and some scary
bits, that entertained me, if no one else. I’m delighted that children have
been enjoying it, but I know quite a few adults who’ve enjoyed it too!
BP: What was
your biggest challenge in writing this series so far?
CM:
There are a lot of characters and a lot of points of view, which makes the
stories quite complex. I like that – I think it makes it richer – but it does
make the plot hard to keep track of at times.
BP: Did you
encounter any difficulties along writing the books?
CM:
Yup, every difficulty you can think of! The hardest thing with the first book
was just to keep going. You’ve got no guarantee that the thing is ever going to
see the light of day, and so every time you hit a problem you think, well, I
could just pack it in. The problem is, there’s always something to do that’s
easier than writing – a tv show to watch, a book to read, a sandwich to eat...
And of course, there’s the dreaded lure of the internet. It’s really incredible
that writers get anything done at all.
BP: The
storyline so far has been one great adventure. Which part of the series did you
liked most to write about?
CM: I
love writing the last few chapters of the books, where the plot strands all
come together and things get really exciting. I also love any scene with Slik
the fairy in. Slik’s a natural born troublemaker, so basically when I’m writing
him I think, what’s the most inappropriate thing for someone to say at this
point? And then I have him say it.
BP: If you would
be given the chance to rewrite any of the scenes of the series would you do so?
If yes, which part and why?
CM:
Oh wow, I’d probably rewrite all of it! This is the curse of writing. As you
get better, everything you’ve written previously seems like it could do with
just another few little tweaks. But that’s the way it is. I’m immensely proud
of both books, even if I’ll always wish I could have just one more round of
edits...
BP: The
children’s book segment has many books, where do you think your books draw
their strength from? So if you would have to sell your book what are the key
features?
CM: I
like to think of the Tales of Fayt as a fantasy series that’s primarily about
the characters rather than about the world that they live in. Some fantasies
place a lot of emphasis on the mechanics and details of the invented world at
the expense of the story. In fact one of my favourite things is when a child
says to me ‘I didn’t think I liked fantasy but I liked your book.’ Having said
that, perhaps an easier way of selling the books would be my own little
‘elevator pitch’: it’s like Lord of the Rings crossed with Pirates of the
Caribbean!
BP: The first
book in the series, The Demon’s Watch, introduced us to both Joseph and Tabitha
and were shows in a great way both singular and taken together. The boys find
themselves in Joseph and the girls in Tabitha, did you plan this in advance or
did the characters grew into their parts?
CM: I
didn’t plan it, but it’s great that it’s there. I was a bit worried that the
book would only be enjoyed by boys, but that’s not the case at all – I was
completely wrong to assume it would be a ‘boy’s book’ in the first place. Tabitha
is a very cool character, I think.
BP: If you read
the books carefully and especially the parts of Joseph and Tabitha it seems
that you have hidden some messages in how they act and react to certain events,
they hold some wise lessons. Did you add those on purpose or did they just
happen to be?
CM: I
wanted the main characters to be likeable but also realistic. So Joseph and
Tabitha have flaws. Joseph is incredibly courageous in the way he tries to
create a better life for himself, but he can be selfish at times (particularly
in The Goblin’s Gift). Tabitha is fiercely loyal to her friends, but she has a
temper. I don’t think of the books as teaching lessons, but I hope readers will
recognise what’s good about these characters, and what’s not so good.
BP: What do you like most
about writing fantasy?
CM: It’s fun
writing this kind of ‘traditional’ (for want of a better word) fantasy because
it comes with a lot of expectations. For instance, most people have an idea of
what a wizard is like – old, long white beard, pointed hat – and as a writer
you can have fun with those expectations (eg instead of being an old man, a
wizard could be a school boy who lives under the stairs, has a pet owl... etc).
But fantasy is a very broad term, and really all fiction is fantasy when you
get down to it.
BP: Tales of Fayt is a
planned series, there are two books released so far, have you already plotted
how many books the series will run, and can your reveal a bit of what might be
in store for us?
CM: I’m actually
working on a prequel at the moment in the form of a comic, drawn by the
incredible artist David Wyatt, who did the covers of the books. It’s about the
Demon’s Watch before the events of the first book, and it stars Tabitha rather
than Joseph. The plan is for it to run initially in the Phoenix children’s comic, then hopefully it will be published as a
comic book in its own right. As for the books themselves, there’ll be one more,
which I’m writing at the moment. It’s based in a huge city – Azurmouth – rather
than Port Fayt, where the first two books are set. In fact everthing about it
is bigger, as befits the final book in the series! I might write further
stories at some point, but I haven’t any plans to at the moment.
BP: Are you working on any
other projects besides Tales of the Fayt?
CM: Nope! The
third book and the comic are keeping me busy. When they’re done I’ll probably
do something very different. I have a few ideas...
BP: and lastly if you would
have to recommend your five favourite books which would they be.
CM: Argh,
favourites! I don’t really have favourites. Or I do, but they change every day.
Right. Here, now, today, I recommend these wonderful books: The Hobbit by JRR
Tolkien. Skellig by David Almond. The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman. And the Redwall series by Brian Jacques.
BP: Thank you for your time
Conrad and looking forward to read about the further adventures of Joseph.