Marcus Sedgwick, author of Midwinter Blood, She is Not Invisible, and this month's teen book club choice Dark Satanic Mills, talks to site member Krazy Kesh about the perks of being an author
Sample Dark Satanic Mills
Why read graphic novels?
Marcus Sedgwick is best known for his mature and gripping writing. He has written many bestselling books such as Revolver, Midwinter Blood, My Swordhand is Singing and Kiss of Death.
Many fans of the pen would do anything to meet him and know the secrets behind his daring novels. At the beginning of the interview I expected the man to be older and more sombre. To my surprise he seemed quite witty and energetic, full of humour which clearly showed why his writing is able to transform his character completely from a modern writer to a shadowing, large and dark man, much like his creation 'Tor' from Midwinterblood. He seemed to be a man of many words.
The first topic he put a finger on was the perks of being an author:
• You can get paid to do nothing.
• Even if you are lounging in the comfort of your home you can be 'working' because writers are actually paid to think or dream.
• Your office is twenty footfalls away from you (Mr Sedgwick said that he works in a shed in his garden. Apparently this shed belonged to a painter).
• Your inspiration is everywhere.
This all sounded like the package every aspiring writer dreams about! Still, there is always the problem of a publisher accepting your work and treating it the way you do. Imagine spending months on a single piece of work and then having it declined by someone who wants something that people will want to buy...
Mr Sedgwick then showed us a picture of his work table and explained that this picture would include most of what he was going to talk about. This obviously sounds strange, but what he did next was amazing. He was asked a question: Why was his desktop picture a Star Wars poster?
He replied that this poster was not just about Star Wars, but the concept that it was based on. This is known as the Hero's Journey: a path the hero must follow to achieve his goal. He explained that this is important in a story as it adds an element of virtue and valour to it.
There was something peculiar about a certain picture in his work space that many of us noticed. There was a cat playing with a ball of string. Mr Sedgwick explained that the cat looked like a murderous machine that would actually hurt someone in its frenzy to play with the ball of wool. He said that this is where he got the idea for his character following the thread of wool to the graveyard in My Swordhand is Singing. This is just like the Greek myth in which Princess Ariadne gives the hero Theseus a ball of thread to find his way out of the deadly Labyrinth and escape the Minotaur, only this time it leads towards the danger.
The enchanting fact about writing is that your imagination can grow and create many new worlds in rapid succession. This proven by Mr Sedgwick's books. They are all thrillers and his new graphic novel is no exception; Dark Satanic Mills is scary yet adrenaline-filled.
The lead character is actually a young teenager. She lives in future England where all the industries and cities are decaying. In all this chaos a new religion has formed which is purely anti-Atheist. Crime is everywhere and this unlikely hero realizes that there is something she knows, just one fact, that can help the country recover. This book is the first graphic novel by Marcus Sedgwick and is co-written with his brother, Julian.
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