Tidemagic, The Many Faces of Ista Flit by Clare Harlow
We have a brilliant blog from author Clare Harlow about the monsters in her book, Tidemagic The Many Faces of Ista Flit. They are called grilks and terrorise throughout the story. Read on to discover more!
Bringing Monsters to Life – Clare Harlow
‘But what do the monsters actually look like?’ This is a question I’m often asked at school visits. I generally answer with a question of my own: ‘What do you think they look like?’
The monsters in my debut novel, Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit, are called grilks. The story is set in Shelwich, where magic ebbs and flows with the tide, and the grilks only appear when the magic rises — and when conditions are dark and misty. To my mind, these are perfect conditions for writing about monsters. The spaces between what is written are where imagination thrives, and I hope to encourage readers to fill in those spaces for themselves. On the page, I show the grilks in glimpses – leathery wings, teeth that flash like knives – so that readers only see as much as Ista, my main character, does.
I also believe that stories are safe spaces for us to explore our fears, and leaving out some details allows readers to set the fear-factor at a level where they feel comfortable. After all, the grilk in my imagination might be too spine-chilling for some people, while others may find my idea of terror rather tame. And no answer a reader gives when I ask what they think a grilk looks like is wrong. It’s right because it’s right for them, and I love seeing readers’ pictures of their versions of the monsters.
It’s been fascinating, though, to reach moments in the publishing process where the grilks’ appearance has had to be defined more clearly. Thanks to Tidemagic’s illustrator Karl James Mountford and the Puffin design team led by Jan Bielecki, the monsters have snuck onto the back cover. There, the grilks are wispy and misty, and their faces are shadowy blanks. This vision is quite far removed from what I pictured when I was writing and yet somehow absolutely perfect, because it creates the same space for imagination that I tried to make in – or rather, around – the text.
A more complex challenge still was the almost life-size model grilk that has been touring bookshops all over the country. This creature couldn’t fade in and out of the mist. And we couldn’t rely on the sounds and smells that build the impression readers get of the grilks on the page. We wanted to entice fans of scary stories, but we couldn’t make the model too scary, as it would have such a prominent place in the children’s section of each shop. I tip my hat to designer Hannah Postlethwaite, maker Caroline Perry and the whole team at Puffin, who somehow found the perfect balance. The model grilk is unnerving and mysterious but approachable too, aided by clever positioning in-store and the fact that this particular grilk is obviously too engrossed in reading a copy of Tidemagic to cause any trouble.
It’s a good job we thought it through so carefully. The final version stands four foot tall and travels in a crate which is too wide to fit through the doorways of some bookshops. I’ve been lucky enough to visit it at almost every location, and I’ve been bowled over by the enthusiasm and creativity of the booksellers who have been hosting it, and by the reactions of customers when they first see it. I hope everyone who comes across the model grilk or picks up Tidemagic will agree with me that it’s fun to be a little bit scared sometimes.
As for what the grilks really look like… well, you’ll have to read the book and decide for yourself.
Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit by Clare Harlow is available now in paperback
