Nora and the Map of Mayhem by Joseph Elliott
Nora and the Map of Mayhem is a new middle grade adventure and its author, Joseph Elliott has penned a blog sharing some insight into the story!
My name is Joseph, and I am a pirate. At least I was. I played a pirate called Cook in six series of the BAFTA-winning TV series, Swashbuckle. For those of you who don’t know, Swashbuckle is a comedy gameshow where young contestants try to win back jewels from some very naughty pirates (ie. me). Altogether, we made over 150 episodes, which is a lot of walking the plank and getting covered in slop… Swashbuckle has been one of the most popular shows on CBeebies for over a decade, and it completely changed my life. It led to numerous other acting jobs, opened the door into TV scriptwriting, and – many years later – was one of the inspirations for my new book, Nora and the Map of Mayhem.
Nora and the Map of Mayhem is a hilarious (yeah, it’s really funny. Promise) adventure story, told from the perspective of an sarcastic, axe-wielding great-grandmother who has a secret history as a Monster Hunter. When her old nemesis, Ripclaw (aka ‘Winifred’), comes looking for her, Nora is forced on a hair-raising quest with her great-grandkids, Atticus and Autumn, in search of the most sought-after treasure in all the Twenty-Three seas: The Necklace of Never.
I didn’t want to write a book about pirates. There are so many brilliant children’s books about pirates already out there, I wanted to do something a bit different, which is why I decided to make Nora a Monster Hunter. That opened up a whole world of wild and wonderous monsters for me to invent – from tiny elektrosquibs with the power to create thunderous storms, to the spectral rot-wraiths who get stronger whenever someone screams… Pirates are popular for a reason, though, and my years on Swashbuckle had a massive influence on me, so I still wanted the book to have similar themes. Consequently, I decided to make Ripclaw a pirate (although she prefers the term ‘nautical marauder’), which allowed me to incorporate lots of the elements I love most, including sword fights, sea battles and a magical treasure map!
Once I had my characters and my setting, my next challenge was to make the book funny. I’ve worked in comedy for over fifteen years. When I first graduated from drama school, I was in a sketch group called Four Screws Loose, who I performed with at festivals (and in the back rooms of some very dodgy pubs) for about six years. That led to other theatre shows and pantomimes, and then TV work including Swashbuckle, Justin’s House and Big Fat Like –a show I co-created for the BBC. As a scriptwriter, I’ve written for series such as Horrible Histories, Class Dismissed and KidzBop, so I’ve got a decent amount of comedy-writing experience, but I’d never written a funny book before… It was a whole new beast of a challenge for me; one that was partly motivated by some children’s comedy books I’d read that were – in my humble opinion, naming no names – a bit lazy and lacking actual jokes. (There, I said it! Don’t sue me.) So, with a sassy, elderly protagonist as my secret weapon, I set out to write the funniest book I possibly could, cramming it with more jokes than a… really big… joke-filled… thing. Nora is so feisty and out-spoken, she made the job easy for me, but I also pushed myself at every opportunity, subverting expectations and playing with conventions. The incredible illustrations by Nici Gregory (who’s sense of humour is just as bonkers as mine #DreamTeam) also bring so much anarchy and joy to the text. In a world full of conflict, wars and polarised opinions, we – especially children – need laughter more than ever, and I hope this book will be able to provide them with some. And if not… well, it can always be pulped and recycled into bog roll, right?