Beware The Toymaker!
National Geographic Kids: When did you first have the idea of an evil toymaker and why did you think it would work as a story?
Jeremy de Quidt: I'm not sure I can honestly say where the character of the toymaker came from. He certainly wasn’t pIanned. I told the story to a local junior school each week, chapter by chapter as I wrote it, and it just got darker and more sinister as I went along. Sometimes the room went very quiet…
NGK: Can you describe the evil Doctor Leiter to our readers…
JdQ: Doctor Leiter is the Duke of Felissehaven's surgeon. He is wealthy, entirely without morals, and very, very dangerous. The idea for his swordstick came from two walking sticks that belonged to my grandfather – one had a silver top, the other was a malacca cane with a blade inside.
NGK: What things scared you as a child?
JdQ: I was very afraid of the dark. Leaving a light on at night only made it worse as whatever was out there was always just in the shadows, waiting. There would be vampires, mummies from Egyptian tombs, murderers with bright silver knives, pirates, werewolves. I'm surprised they could all fit in the hallway by the door.
NGK: Are you a fan of horror stories. If so, which books stick in the memory and why?
JdQ: I didn't read horror stories, there were enough things already waiting in the dark outside without me adding to them
JdQ: Yes, enormously. But there is a hard centre to Mathias. He keeps going. The character I feel most sorry for is Katta. Really bad things happen to her.
NGK: Which is your favourite part of The Toymaker?
JdQ: Those bits with Valter or Margeurite in. Margeurite because she is so beautiful and scary, and Valter because he is just plain scary.
NGK: Although The Toymaker isn't set in a specified time or place, did you have a place and time in mind when writing the book?
JdQ: Yes. The pictures in my head were of a dark Germanic world in the early 1800s.
NGK: Did you have any drawings, music, or notes that you used to help you to write The Toymaker?
JdQ: No, I'm afraid I didn't. I find that if I plan too much or have too many things to refer to, they only serve to fix the story onto rails, and then I don’t have any chance to change it or do the unexpected. But if I just make it up as I go along, I can do anything I want.
NGK: Did you enjoy twisting things we associate with fun such as toys and circuses to make them really sinister and scary?
JdQ: Yes, but the really scary thing is just how very small a twist they need.
Click here to try to win The Toymaker in Prize Planet