We chat with two-time Carnegie Medalist Patrick Ness who makes a thrilling return to the world of Chaos Walking with this launch of the extraordinary New World trilogy and its first installment Piper at the Gates of Dusk now on shelves!
Hi, Patrick! What made you want to return to the world of Chaos Walking?
It was purely the idea. I had been very clear in my head that Chaos Walking was finished, although I always said ‘never say never’ when people asked if there would be more, while secretly thinking probably never. But then I got an idea centred around the Pied Piper, and I thought, oh, that feels really interesting and honestly, a little terrifying, because I didn’t want to go back to the trilogy and potentially screw it up. Being fruitfully nervous is the best way to write for me, because the worry that I’m going to mess it up means that I will really, really pay attention.
Has it been an enjoyable process?
Is writing books enjoyable? I was talking to a writer friend over the weekend, who was saying that he was deep in edits and how much he hated them. And I love edits but hate first drafts. I hate the blank page; I find that such a slog. But when that first draft’s done, then I can go back and turn it into a book. So it’s the same with Piper, it’s enjoyable and I love being back in the world. But the process is still as difficult as it ever was.
Can you introduce Piper at the Gates of Dusk to us in your own words?
Piper at the Gates of Dusk is the first book in a new trilogy that is set about 20 years after the original Chaos Walking trilogy. It’s about the sons of our heroes from the first trilogy Todd and Viola, Ben and Max. Something approaches in the night sky, and it’s sending a signal that may be causing some real problems on New World… It turns out that there is an even bigger threat than they thought.
Has anything surprised you during the writing of Piper?
Oh, I always get surprised when writing.
In fact, when I talk about writing I often talk about letting your book and your characters surprise you, and I always use Chaos Walking as an example. Wilf, who becomes a main character in the original trilogy and is a character in this new book/ trilogy, didn’t exist until I sat down that day to write that scene. And so, yeah, I do get surprises and I try to allow room for them to happen because they can sometimes give you a Wilf.
How did you approach the rebuilding of the world – or the re-exploration of the world that you first created 20 years ago?
It’s really challenging. I get world building questions a lot, which I always find really interesting because I never consciously think that I’m building a world other than a slightly more macro version in that every book is a world made of words. I feel like all I’m going to do is convince you that my story can logically take place in this world, whatever that world looks like. So it’s the same process; of constantly asking what’s the truth? What really happened here? And the real challenge – because that’s always a challenge – the real challenge this time was how much backstory to fill in. That’s tricky in technical terms because you don’t want it getting in the way. I want my stories to propel forward constantly and I want them to grab you – and lots of exposition isn’t going to grab you. So I tried to view it as a creative challenge. How can I get across information in the shortest, fastest possible way?
The power of accepted cultural, propaganda, and conquering narratives are clearly set out in your work. Can you talk a little about why it’s so important that young people should train themselves to question an accepted narrative?
It’s interesting, the political questions about this book, because I never thought of it as political. This is simply what we’re all going through. This is what the world is like and I consider it just a reflection of our current state without trying to make it political one way or another.
In the time since the first trilogy, social media and the internet have really expanded – and the malignant part of it has also greatly expanded. AI is also now making the situation even worse, and so it becomes what do you believe in? Can you be manipulated? And the answer is, of course, you can be manipulated, we can all be manipulated.
I really wanted to show someone who did it and that they think they have good reasons to do it. And, and you might even agree with some of those reasons. But always ask in terms of any information given, is what is the agenda of person behind this?
You can agree with everything they say, and you can agree with the information. But you must also think about what is their agenda? Are they leaving something out? Always, always, always ask, always get a second opinion, a third opinion, because there are people who will take advantage of you if you don’t.
Have any pieces of current culture, whether books, films, music or any other art form, been a strong influence on Piper?
I’ve been reading a lot by the sci-fi writer, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and it does what I love in, in really good fiction, which is it establishes a world with authority and even though the world is strange and alien to you and alien to experience, it still makes sense. And it’s still humanity, inside it. And I love that. I loved the authority of Sinners. And I loved the authority of The Secret Agent – I think because they’re idiosyncratic and they are single voiced, and that’s what I love; the weirdness that you don’t expect that comes from nowhere. So why is Sinners about vampires? I mean, it makes sense in retrospect, but for the first hour, it’s not a vampire movie. And then it is, and it’s incredible. I love the daring. Then that scene, the famous music scene. That sort of daring in that I am going to follow this story to whatever weirdness it takes me – I hugely admire it, that bone deep conviction that this is the story I’m telling and the path I’m on, I’m taking a huge swing because it’s right.
What were you like as a teen reader? Any stand out books/ reading memories?
You know, I grew up pre-internet and so it was omnivorous reading – the YA market wasn’t nearly as vast as it was. There were a few books and authors, it tended to be either Sweet Valley High or Judy Blume. No complaints, I’m not dissing either of those. Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary I always say are the two people who are why I’m a writer.
I read completely unchaperoned, which I think is the best way to do it. I would just wander into the library and pick up anything that looked interesting. It wasn’t always good and it wasn’t always interesting, but I found the books of Tom Robbins, who was an American counter-cultural writer and who showed me that books can be playful, and they didn’t have to be polite. That was hugely influential.
There’s no one teenage book that sticks out to me because I was just reading anything I get my hands on. And of course, any precocious reader will always read way above what they’re supposed to read. So when I was 15 or 16, I read Beloved and it is not a YA book, but wow, what a world changer.
So I always recommend that you read as an omnivore and pick up anything and try not to let anybody know what you’re doing
When I was in 11th grade, so year 10 here, our English teacher in advanced English took us to see the Seattle Repertory Company production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. I think she thought she was getting the nice cleaned up version, but that was not what we got. We got the absolute full text, with all of the gay stuff, all the bad language… I think she was shocked, but it is truly my formative creative experience; seeing that play and thinking you can say these things out loud and you can talk about them on stage and it can be this sexy and this unusual, beautiful language.
What’s next – can you give us a tiny hint as to the next instalment?
Let’s just say there are some surprises in store about where the missing young people might be and what might be hunting them and who might have stolen them…
