I’ve been asked some questions regarding Green Sky, and thought that having the answers here might help! If you want to ask me anything, my Q&A on Goodreads is open, tweet me @writingandcoe, or email me.
What are the Dirrs?
The Dirrs are the police force, justice system, bounty-hunters and bodyguards all in one. There's a Centre in every large city and they usually travel a lot, so they pick up a lot of gossip. Some prefer one type of duty whereas others will mix'n'match - Anoe, from Green Sky & Sparks, prefers bodyguard duty but will also take on investigation work (which gets explored in a later book).
Are Mages are born magical? How do they harness the magic from the lines?
Yes, Mages are born magical. There's a couple of Mages in the later books who try to explain the process, and in the next series I get to follow the growing-up process of one Mage. With regards harnessing the magic - they don't know! There's a lot of theories but it's an area that they have no real idea about. It's great fun for me as I get to explore that along with the characters.
Where did the names come from? Are they based on particular places or people?
Some of the place names are from my childhood; I only realised that Huish and Oare are real villages when driving back through a few years ago! Obviously I saw them as a child and they lodged in the depths of my brain...most of the other place names are from childhood maps and worlds, and have stayed. Some of the character names are historic; S'ian is from the Chinese X'ian and Anoe was a corruption of Annie. Toru got pulled out of thin air, but I can't imagine him being anything different now. Most of the others are found using the Fantasy Names Generator, but all of the lands do have their own characteristics. I have a spreadsheet to keep them all organised...
Is there a map?
Not yet! I'm working on it. I have a scribbled one, and I'm currently in negotiation with an artist to try to get that into a better format for printing.
Are there more stories? I want to read more about X!
The next books in the series do explore the characters and world further, so yes, there is more about everyone! I have also written a number of short stories in the GreenSky world, some of which focus on the characters in the books. Some of them are coming out in anthologies and some are going to sit and wait until I do something with them, but if you're interested in one particular character, there's no harm in contacting me to ask...
