⚙ Philip Reeve Q&A: The Reevening 2
Mortal Engines author Philip Reeve had such a good time during his last Q&A session (The Reevening) that he graciously agreed to another round with the fans on the Mortal Engines Discord Server. What follows is a selection of the Mortal Engines-related discussion. Philip Reeve sure is a good bloke!
From Mortal Engines to Railhead, your worldbuilding has always been an inspiration. Is there any particular approach you take when writing? Beyond an initial idea, how much planning do you do?
Good question... I tend to start off with an image and mood I'm after. Then I just start writing with very little planning, going as fast as I can, writing all sorts of scenes which probably never get used, and slowly the world starts to come into focus. I like to keep them very expandable, so that things I notice in real life can find their way in: I don't start out with a firm set of rules or a map, I prefer to let the story help to create the world as it goes along.
So in Mortal Engines, for instance, Mr Shrike suddenly turned up, and I had to work out what he was, were there any others like him, if not what had happened to them, etc. And a bit of the world's history took shape around him. Actually, the mobile cities came quite late in Mortal Engines, too... I basically faff around for about a year, and then the big central image arrives which makes sense of it all!
Wow, really? The cities are there in the original Urbivore short, which I assumed was a very early iteration.
No, it started out as a sort of post-apocalyptic thing; the airships were there, and a sort of proto-Hester. When I thought of the cities it seemed such an obvious idea that I was afraid someone would beat me to it before I could write the novel, so I banged out a short story as a way of staking my claim. (I'm mortified that it's still available in some form, but that's the internet, I guess - nothing's ever gone!)
Of course, you could argue that the early versions without moving cities were actually a different book, and I just used bits of it in M.E. But to me it felt like the same project.
Your books are full of brilliant, distinctive character names. How do you go about choosing them? And which of your characters do you think has the best one?
Prof Pennyroyal has an old flame called Minty Bapsnack which is a name I'm rather pleased with. It's usually about finding the right sound, and the right rhythm. Some names just come instantly, others you have to grope around for and they change many times. Some are real names - Pewsey and Gench both came off of gravestones in Brighton Cemetery. Others are places - Natsworthy is just up the road from me here on Dartmoor. Hester was originally Hester Shaugh, after Shaugh Prior, another Dartmoor village, but it's best to have names people can pronounce, so she became Hester Shaw.
Airship names I usually take as an excuse to insert a 'found' name - a line of poetry, the title of a song or book. It's the same with trains in Railhead. I don't expect people to get them all as references, it's more a way to give some texture to the world, replicating how our own world is full of references.
We’ve heard “Mortal Engines Quartet,” “Predator Cities,” and “The Hungry City Chronicles” to refer to the series. Which do you prefer? Also, which book cover designs are your favorite?
Aaaargh, the proliferation of series titles has been incredibly annoying! I've always called it the Mortal Engines Quartet; I think the other names are rubbish. My first US publisher wanted to call the 1st book 'Hungry City' and when I refused they consoled themselves by using that as a series title. The result is that nobody knows what the series is called, including me.
David Wyatt did some fabulous covers. His covers for the Fever Crumb books are great, too. I think his are closer to my vision, but the David Frankland covers are lovely, and by far the most popular.
Editor's Note: David Wyatt also contributed art to The Illustrated World of Mortal Engines, such as this concept of Airhaven:
A very simple question: Shrike VS Grike. Why did the Americans decide his name had to be changed?
Yes! Apparently, there's a character called The Shrike in some SF books by Dan Simmons. I'd never heard of them—I got it from the bird—and there's no copyright in names. But the US publisher was worried about it and asked me to change it. Since time was very short I just went 'Brike? Crike? Drike? Frike? GRIKE, that'll do.' I always wished afterwards I'd put up more of a fight because it's led to endless confusion.
He was called Shreck originally, named after Max Schreck, the actor who played Nosferatu. I think I heard something about the Shrek film coming out and changed it for that reason—I can't remember.
What made you choose the lines from T.S. Eliot's Little Gidding for the chapel scene in Infernal Devices?
I was in Canterbury for some event and I wandered into the cathedral, and those lines were on a little etched glass panel on the wall. I didn't know where they were from, but I found them incredibly moving (and still do). My son had not long been born at that time, and I'd just come through quite a serious illness, so life and death etc were much on my mind.
So I wanted to use them, but they were too long for an airship name, so they became the code that reprogrammed Shrike. I thought they were quite unlikely lines to quote in the middle of a huge sci-fi action sequence, which of course made them appeal even more!
Is there any music that inspired, or you associate with, the Mortal Engines books?
Well, there are loads of song titles which become airship names, but if I had any music in mind it was more likely something orchestral—Wagner, Beethoven, something huge and German.
When I was starting Fever Crumb and trying to decide what made my Elizabethan-level post-apocalyptic London different from just plain Elizabethan London, I thought of the weird electronic howl which opens David Bowie's Diamond Dogs, and he became the presiding god of that city (hence the pub names).
Do you think any other cities survived the 60 Minute War in the USA?
Yes! I think it's actually highly unlikely that the US is a 'dead continent'. However badly knocked about it was, it would have been re-seeded with plants and animals by the time of Mortal Engines. So I expect Valentine and other explorers have missed a lot of thriving low-intensity settlements and secret airbases.
I think I just invented the 'Dead Continent' idea because I didn't want to have to deal with Traction Chicago, Traction New York etc - it would have made the book too big. But as the series progressed, yes, it's not an idea that makes much sense—it's clearly a Traction Era myth, ripe for overturning.
Image credit for Valentine & Anna Fang fan art: The incredibly talented Peter Yea.
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