Isn’t it marvellous when things go wrong by Jack Meggitt-Phillips
Jack Meggitt-Phillips is the internationally bestselling author of the monstrously funny The Beast and the Bethany books. The latest book in the series, The Beast and the Bethany: Child of the Beast is out now. Here, Jack talks us through how he sources ideas for his books . . .
Isn’t it marvellous when things go wrong?
Jack Meggitt-Phillips
Isn’t it marvellous when things go wrong?
Not for you, of course. Nor for anyone you know. Nor for the vast majority of people in the real world. But, in the land of fiction, it’s pixie dust.
Sherlock Holmes trips over a body.
Macbeth bumps into some witches.
Poor little Paddington loses his pop-up book.
There are so many brilliant stories driven by something going terribly wrong.
In my own series, The Beast and the Bethany, the action is all driven by a vain 500-year-old named Ebenezer Tweezer, a hungry beast named . . . well, beast . . . and a rebellious prankster named Bethany, who is going to be eaten.
When I first started writing these beastly books, I felt reasonably in control of the characters. But, as the series has gone on, and I have got to know them better, they have taken full control.
The best way I can think to describe it is that I feel increasingly like a director who’s forced to work with the most divaesque of actors. They now have a lot of ‘thoughts’ and quite pointed opinions about the direction that they want to take themselves. Sometimes they point-blank refuse to take part in the frankly gorgeous scenes I have in mind for them, which can make it dashed tricky to get to the final page of any book.
Whenever I am in a tight spot like this, I always think to myself ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’
I don’t mean this in a cheerful, laissez-faire sort of way. I literally sit and think about everything that could possibly go wrong for my characters. I find that nothing makes a plot flow easier than boxing my characters in the tightest spots possible, and then forcing them to find a way out of whatever trap I’ve created for them.
For instance, there’s a new beast . . . a child-sized beast . . . in the latest book, The Beast and the Bethany: Child of the Beast. And, as soon as this child has crawled out of the beast’s belly, it immediately creates chaos and carnage aplenty – making life diabolically difficult for everyone it encounters.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Bethany is about to discover a terrible secret from her past. For years, she has wanted to learn the truth about where she came from, and now, she’s about to find out in the worst way possible.
It’s my favourite book in the series so far – mainly, because the stakes are so high. And even though the beast, Bethany, and Ebenezer might be deeply irritating when they’re in diva-mode during the writing process, their tantrums and demands make the books so much stronger.
Creating obstacles is a great way of unlocking ideas for my own stories, and I find it useful when I’m running workshops with children as well. I ask them to take a long, hard look at whatever room, broom closet, library, shark tank, or underground lair they’re stood in, and get them to imagine what’s the worst thing that could happen at that precise moment. Then they have to write it all down as quickly as possible. The things they come up with are truly . . . beastly.
The Beast and the Bethany series are written by Jack Meggitt-Phillips and illustrated by Isabelle Follath. They are published by FarShore.
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation.
