We chat with author Sarwat Chadda about Storm Singer, which is a thrilling middle grade fantasy about a girl with the magical power to control the elements with her song.
Hi, Sarwat! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! I’m a Brit, of South-Asian descent, and Muslim upbringing which, if you read any of my books, tends to be magic factors in my work!
I’ve been published since 2009, and written novels, comic books, tv shows and podcasts. But well before all that I worked as an engineer in the construction industry for almost 20 years.
I tend to write big fantasy novels, and that’s probably because all my years spent playing Dungeons and Dragons. Yup, I’m an old-school gamer.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I have a really strong memory of sitting in a classroom, looking at the trees outside our window, while the teacher read the opening of THE HOBBIT. I must have been 6-7 years old.
Then as I grew more confident in reading, by my early teens I got into the RE Howard CONAN novels, and fantasy in general. I also started writing my own adventures, sort of. It all comes back to Dungeons and Dragons, again. You can either buy prewritten adventures, but I didn’t really have the money to do that, or write your own, which is what i ended up doing. There are more than a few authors who started off the same way.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Early Reader story of Jason and the Argonauts.
- The one that made you want to become an author: Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: DUNE, by Frank Herbert.
Your latest novel, Storm Singer, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Prince and peasant fight tyranny.
What can readers expect?
A wild mix of fantasy I promise you’ve not come across before! I created a whole new magic mythology for the book, our heroine has to enchant the different spirits with song, and each spirit has its own unique personality. Then I’ve taken the core mythology from India and the tales of the Garuda, a man-eagle hero who serves the god Vishnu, and created a whole society of them. Finally, added a dash of Arabian Nights because… why not?
Where did the inspiration for Storm Singer come from?
Wanting to create a fantasy world that wasn’t European. The irony is traditional fantasy with its castles, dragons and elves doesn’t feel fantastical anymore. Plus I had a really strong mental image of a small peasant girl, who uses a crutch. The strength of her was what intrigued me. The look in her eyes was one of pure defiance. She was going to be trouble, and it was going to be glorious. Thus Nargis, the Storm Singer, was born.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I love writing sparky dialogue! To make that work you need strong personalities, ones who don’t compromise! I loved writing Mistral, so noble, so heroic, so pompous. So he was always at loggerheads with Nargis who is down to earth, cynical, with no respect for Mistral, despite him being a prince. Getting them to go from enemies, to reluctant allies, to closest friends who would give their lives for the other was a great, but amazing, challenge.
Can you tell us a bit about your process when it came to worldbuilding for Storm Singer?
It starts with an image usually, or a scene. I just saw Nargis very clearly, an wanted to find out more about her. I could tell she lived in the desert, in a society that reflected medieval India. BUT I also wrote it after Covid, and has seen how the disparity of wealth had affected how different groups managed things like lockdowns. There was also the growing awareness of the amount of resources the extremely wealthy consume, and that too fed into the story. The fantasy genre is just a tool. In the end all stories are about us, as people, as a society.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Keeping up the enthusiasm, page after page, day after day, for months, can become hard. The best thing to do is take a break, work on something completely different, and not rush. Fortunately the love of the characters and the world bring you back.The other bg challenge is when your book takes up in a totally unexpected direction, and then you just grit your teeth and enjoy the ride!
What’s next for you?
The sequel, THE CROW’S REVENGE. You meet Sickle in Storm Singer. She was only meant to be a small character, a threat to heroes, but she started taking over every scene she was in. She is a crow garuda with three blades instead of a left foot, and the kingdom’s greatest assassin. She’s an utter badass. It’ll be out April 2026.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
Where to begin? Okay, not new, but new to me. Charlie Huston’s novels featuring Joe Pitt, a vampire detective. Then Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (been saving that for the summer!) and Pat Barker’s Voyage Home. Finally Tom Holland’s latest Rome history book, Pax. Because I think about the Roman Empire a lot.
