Q&A with Michael Wombat about The Summer Realm

Before Michael Wombat became unable to do anything on the computer, I asked him to fill out a Q&A about our collaboration on The Summer Realm. This is what he had to say about it.

Who is Michael Wombat as a writer? What inspired you to put words on the page, and publish books?

I wrote my first book in secret. None of the family knew about it until I published it in 2012. Warren Peace was inspired by stories I told my daughters about unlikely adventures of our pets at the time. I was urged by friend and fellow author Alex Brightsmith to self publish, and have never looked back.

What was your initial inspiration for The Summer Realm? When did it begin?

I was reading Much Ado About Nothing, Hero’s words in Act 3:

“And bid her steal into the pleached bower, where honeysuckles, ripen’d by the sun, forbid the sun to enter, like favourites.”

The word ‘pleached’ (intertwined vines) struck me. I asked myself, what if stories could be pleached and intertwined? It all stemmed from that. And then Victoria Pearson wrote Sun Dust* and my Sundust* were probably the seeds of my interest in entwined stories, and indirectly led to the Summer Realm. 

What came first – the worldbuilding or the character development?

One of the greatest things about this collaboration is the way the Summer Realm world grew organically along with the characters as the four of us wrote and exchanged ideas, picking up prompts from each other and shaping them into something more. A minor character in one author’s tale often turns up in another strand in a major role. Everything grew together, and that is rather wonderful.

What made you decide to make it a collaboration with other authors?

Well, if I was intertwining stories, it only made sense for other authors to write the stories that would intertwine with mine.

How did you choose the authors?

Easily. I asked the three authors I know best, who are also the most talented, and fortunately they all saw the potential in my proposal and jumped on board. Thank goodness, because our resulting four leading characters are all wildly different, but spark off each other brilliantly.

Did you find it easy working with three other authors? How did you collaborate and decide on things? Were you the main decision maker, or was it all unanimous?

It's an absolute delight working together. We natter away in our WhatsApp group brainstorming and supporting each other. I don’t really know whether I’m the chief arbiter: maybe at first while we were all finding our feet, but I’ve always been keen to stress that this project belongs to all of us, not just me, so I think by now we’re all making decisions.

Tell us more about you character, Cleaveskull – how did he evolve as you were thinking and planning and drafting, and were there any surprises along the way? If so, what were they?

He was almost fully formed in my head before I started, being based on a D&D character* I role-played in the 1980s. He’s a lot more nuanced in the books than he was then.

*Michael shared this picture of a tiny figurine he has had since the 70s of Cleaveskull's character. 

Did you envisage it being a trilogy at the beginning? Did you think it would be a longer or shorter project? Have you been inspired to write any other stories in the same world?

Crikey, no. I thought we’d struggle to write a book thick enough to have a spine title. The Realm, though, grew so beautifully into a rich, deep universe that in the end I think we’re lucky to contain it in just three books. There’s plenty of scope in the saga for sequels and spin-off too, with a possible sequel already being roughly planned. I’ve half-written a spin-off feel already, which may or may not see the light of day.

If you had to choose one place in the Summer Realm to go on holiday to, where would you pick and why?

I think Shasym, the desert city. Bustling narrow streets, loud colourful bazaars, a strong educational and artistic output, and a large airship port.

Is there a place in the Summer Realm there you’d like to live?

High Vebren, the city of trees, without a doubt. It’s in the middle of a forest, with different levels, walkways and buildings all fashioned in and among the crowded, living trees. It sits by a lake, from which the River Vebren flows through the rest of the Realm. In my head it’s stunningly beautiful.

* The Duo of Sundust ready by Victoria Pearson & Michael Wombat