by Steve Blackman
We are very excited to bring you an interview from middle grade author Emma Read, creator of Milton the Mighty and Milton the Megastar, who chats to our regular contributor, Steve Blackman, all about her brand new book The Housetrap – a spooky middle grade mystery for readers who love adventure.
Can you tell us a little about your new book, The Housetrap?
Of course! The Housetrap is a spooky, Scooby Doo-esque adventure where four almost-friends find themselves trapped in a strange house in the woods. The house is set for an escape room style party but for some reason it doesn’t want to let the kids go … it has other plans for them. The team have to unravel multiple mysteries and at the same time attempt to solve the puzzles and riddles left by the architect of the house, in a desperate effort to escape. The only thing they have in their favour is that they are alone in there …
Or are they?
For readers 9+ who like mystery, puzzles, adventure, and the odd jump scare.
In addition to the creepy words (by me) the illustrations on the cover and interior are by Coralie Muce.
The Housetrap is intricately plotted, with loads of hints and clues. How on earth did you plan it all out? Or are you a discovery writer / pantser?
The editing process on The Housetrap was something of a metaphor for the book, in that it was a twisty, turny puzzle that needed unlocking, disassembling, and slotting back into place the right way round! I couldn’t have done any of it without my brilliant agent, Lauren Gardner, and my editor at Chicken House, Kesia Lupo who both helped me make it make sense.
I’m not a natural plotter, although I usually formulate a rough plan in advance (plot points, pinch points etc); when it comes to writing I love the discovery approach – it’s a bit like wandering through a maze—or a house—that keeps changing and revealing new secrets. No spoilers, but there is one item in the book that the kids need to find, and I only worked out where it was by writing all the way to the end! It’s a fun method that works for me, but it does mean edits are usually hard work!
The House itself is a brilliant location, but so is the surrounding forest. Were they inspired by real locations? And any of the characters by real people, contemporary or historical?
Places I’ve been, and seen, always find their way into my books, and The Housetrap is no exception. The idea for the house itself, and the entire story really, came from a beautiful but declining hotel in Rome. Haphazardly built, it had several mezzanine levels, rooms that were unexpectedly connected, and stairs that didn’t seem to go where you thought they should.
As I wrote, I augmented it with fictional houses and hotels (the Overlook won’t be a surprise, I’m sure!) But it was another, real-life, hotel which lent the finishing touches, including all the taxidermy animals and mounted deer heads. This was another, past-its-best building, hidden in the New Forest in Hampshire (a forest created for a king, like Badwell Woods in the novel.)
The Housetrap is set in Suffolk, where I grew up, which is home to Thetford forest – a magnificently huge place, which, when I was a child, I truly believed a person could get lost in forever.
Character-wise, I think the only one who is drawn from life is Deliah. There is a lot of me in her – like her I was embarrassed of being smart; I thought it made other people uncomfortable so I masked it … being clever wasn’t cool where I went to school! In Deliah I wanted to create a character who could work through those feelings and grow to be proud of her intelligence.
How much does your background in science inform your creation of stories (arachnid or otherwise)?
In Milton the Mighty/Megastar, I was keen to show the characters as realistically as possible, their spidery movement, physiology and, as much as possible within the bounds of the story, their behaviour. In The Housetrap, there’s not a lot of science directly on the page, but I still examine all my scenes to make sure they are logical, within the rules of whatever supernatural power is in play.
More generally, I find a wealth of story inspiration in science, from pure sci-fi ideas, to cli-fi, to the natural world and way beyond: the first story I ever had published was inspired by a conversation about ghosts on The Infinite Monkey Cage (a science comedy podcast with Professor Brian Cox) which makes it feel like I’ve come full circle!
You were (deservedly) shortlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award. How important do you think competitions are for aspiring writers? And what advice would you give them?
It might seem anathema to some to consider writing a competitive sport, but as an aspiring writer, I entered every comp going! My first win was a Twitter micro fiction competition (back in the days of 140 characters!) and I kept going until I hit the amazing heights of the BCNA shortlist. Writing competitions aren’t for everyone – the odds are not ever in your favour and the likelihood is you will fail. And if you do list, or even win, there are no guarantees of success.
But … if you can stomach with that, competitions provide interesting benefits (besides the chance to walk away with a prize). They are great motivators, providing hard deadlines of the sort you might get from a publisher; they force you to scrutinise your work, helping you become a better editor; and they acclimatise you to having professionals read your work and, if you’re lucky, critique it.
If you’re going to enter competitions, my advice is to try and enter with friends; turn it into a team sport, where successes can be vicarious, and failure can be shared and contextualised. Also, be clear on why you’re entering and manage your expectations. What do you hope to accomplish? Achieving a listing, or a notable mention is a fantastic addition to your query letter, and getting used to rejection will set you in good stead for any writing journey.
What would you hope readers learn from The Housetrap’s characters and their adventures?
When it comes to The Housetrap, my main desire is for readers to have fun. I wanted to write a thrilling adventure, something that makes you gasp and squeal, with delight and just a little bit of terror – like riding your bike super fast downhill. But there are some messages to take away too – I’ve already mentioned Deliah’s smarts, but also I want readers (perhaps especially girls) to see that maths has value. I volunteer at my local primary school, helping out with maths and I see too many girls in KS2 with self-imposed barriers to the subject. I hope the book speaks to them, just a little.
More broadly, appropriately scary books can be beneficial to children’s emotional development. There are a lot of studies across this subject but in a nutshell, readers can experience fear, almost practice it, in a safe environment and learn to recognise their own personal tolerance for risk. One of my favourite pieces of feedback for the book has been from readers wondering what they would do in the same situation. How would they respond, how would they escape? Allowing readers a ‘run-through’ like this, of their feelings, allows them to be challenged and grow emotionally, in a safe environment.
I’d love to see Deliah and the gang getting into more scrapes. Can we expect a sequel? (Hoping hard for a yes here…)
As much as I’d love to scare the living daylights out of Deliah and the gang again, in all likelihood it’s probably not going to happen. If there were to be a sequel, I do have a seed of an idea as to what that might look like, so never say never – it might turn up as a short story or a freebie on my Substack!
If you were stranded on a desert island with just one book, which one would you choose?
Obviously this is always going to be a toughie, but I think taking full advantage of the ‘rules’, I’d take The Lord of the Rings, partly because it’s nice and long and will keep me busy! It’s one of the few books I’ve read multiple times and, whilst I know it’s not an especially original answer, it’s a story that’s been with me for most of my life and it always brings a nostalgic comfort with it.
Emma Read
Emma Read is the author of The Housetrap, and the Milton series (Chicken House), including Milton the Mighty, one of The Times Best Children’s Books of 2019 and shortlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award.
She loves all things spooky (and spidery!) and can often be found walking through her local graveyard … but only in daylight. Like Mark Gatiss, she doesn’t believe in ghosts, but is scared of them. Connect with Emma at @emmydee73 (Twitter), @ediereadie (Instagram), subscribe at emmaread.substack.com/ for exclusive content, and get in touch at emmareadauthor.com
The Housetrap is out now and published by Chicken House Books
Steve Blackman
Like his career, Steve’s writing is filled with tech and engineering, although his speculative thrillers tend to have higher stakes and fewer meetings. Before he found himself advising companies on digital transformation, Steve was a copywriter, a magazine editor, a communications director, a product designer and a webcaster, though not at the same time. Home is South London, where he lives with his wife and teenage daughters. They wish he’d stop saying, ‘What if…’
Stay tuned for Steve’s review of The Housetrap in our autumn/winter issue, coming soon!
PaperBound Magazine 