Q&A with Peter Bunzl

Peter Bunzl has written a book for Barrington Stoke entitled Dragonracers and it features plenty of history mingled with a sense of awe in the form of a found dragon!  Read on for our Q&A with Peter about this book.

Peter, can you tell us a bit about Dragonracers and where the inspiration came from?

The inspiration came from reading about real life historical aeronautical feats – like the London to Manchester Air Race of 1910.

Two airmen took part: Claude Grahame White and Louis Paulhan. They flew early one-man biplanes. But what if there’d been a third competitor… 

a dragon flown by two children who were mad about flying. This was my eureka ‘what if’ idea: a race of early airplanes vs a dragon.

Your books for Barrington Stoke have a basis in truth with a fantastical element added in.  How do you go about creating these stories?

I’m interested in world-changing events from the past, but I also love fairytale and magic. It’s fun to combine those elements to create a fantastical story, which still contains a dose of historical truth.

Your books often feature a strong female lead- do you create these characters with someone in mind from your life?

My mum and sister are strong personalties, who definitely influence the female characters I write. I have nieces, and a nephew, and god daughters, who are the same ages as various of my child characters, and they influence my writing too.

Do you have plans to write more for Barrington Stoke in the future?  Are you working on any other new projects at the moment?

If an appropriate idea came up, I would love to work with Barrington Stoke again.

Currently, I am writing a sequel to Magicborn; my 2022 middle grade children’s book with Usborne that was all about fairies and magic in Georgian England. The sequel is called Glassborn. It comes out October ‘23. I can’t say much about the story except it contains more magic, more Fairyland, more evil Fairies and more heroic children. Look out for it soon!

What is your writing process like? Are you fuelled by deadlines, caffeine or something else? Do you write mostly during one part of the day?

I have a sweet tooth, so I am mostly fuelled by chocolate, cake, or chocolate cake. I write in the daytime. My partner and I just got a puppy a month ago, so writing for any stretch of time right now is proving difficult.

If you found a dragon egg, what would you name the dragon?

Smaug.

 

DragonRacers is published by Barrington Stoke and is available now.