The Inspiration behind Furthermoor by Darren Simpson
Crystal Buds
The Inspiration Behind Furthermoor
Car crashes! Mountains of landfill! Waterless seas! Industrial decay!
All grand, dramatic things that helped inspire my previous books, Scavengers and The Memory Thieves. My latest novel, however, doesn’t boast such sensational inspiration. Furthermoor began as nothing more than an author’s greedy whim.
Setting is often my starting point when exploring a book idea. I need to find a place that’s captivating enough to pull me through hours of writing. As I pondered what to write after The Memory Thieves, a setting began to form in my mind – a mechanical forest of emerald leaves, stained-glass flowers, clockwork creatures and sapphire lakes.
On hindsight, I wonder whether this forest grew from a seed planted by J.G. Ballard’s The Crystal World, which I enjoyed reading many moons ago. Wherever it came from, I had a setting that intrigued me. The only problem was genre, for such a magical setting would surely place my story in the fantasy realm. Not really a problem, I guess, but I’ve never seen myself as a fantasy writer, and have always preferred flitting between pigeonholes to settling squarely into them.
So how could I use this fantastical setting without writing a fantasy novel?
The answer came to me – as answers often do – while I was doing the dishes. What if I made this jewelled forest imaginary, within the real world? What if these otherworldly woods existed in the mind of some urban, contemporary protagonist?
On top of that, what if I somehow found a way to blend these two worlds? In my mind’s eye, I saw concrete tower blocks encrusted with jewels; pavements and alleys rife with crystal fauna. And I got so excited.
It was this vision that pulled me while I developed Furthermoor. With a daydreaming protagonist in mind, I researched imaginary worlds and came across a psychological condition called maladaptive daydreaming, which sees sufferers addicted to elaborate fantasy worlds, to the point of turning their backs on their real lives. This preference for imagined worlds really struck a chord with me, especially as an author who spends half his time with imagined characters in imagined places.
The reason some people are maladaptive daydreamers – as you might expect – is that reality can be cruel and hard to control. So Furthermoor’s protagonist, Bren, needed a reason to seek solace in his imagined sanctuary – in his beautiful, tractable, jewelled forest – and the next thing I knew, I had a novel exploring grief, bullying and self-esteem. Heavy themes, I’ll admit, but with those themes came the opportunity to explore other things too: family, friendship, bravery, hope – and most of all, love. Love not only for others, but also for yourself.
I hope Furthermoor not only entertains readers, but also reaches many people coping with bullying or grief. I hope that – like Bren – these readers are inspired to find dignity, self-worth, and the quiet bravery that’s so crucial in dealing with reality. That, for me, would be the most wonderful bloom after tending Furthermoor’s buds.
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