In Storm Singer, twelve-year-old Nargis, who has the ability to communicate with elementals, is caught up in an epic struggle for the fate of the land of Bharat after she encounters Mistral, prince of the eagle garudas who rule over the kingdom. He’s on the run after a coup which imprisoned his parents. Nargis reluctantly agrees to aid him, thus setting the unlikely allies on a dangerous adventure.
MUF: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Storm Singer is a fascinating story, and I’m excited to learn more. What inspired this story? What elements led to the creation of the world and the characters?
SC: Nargis inspired it. I wanted a hero that represented the weakest and the most downtrodden, and show how someone like her can rise up and overthrow a tyranny. Ultimately what inspired it was the awareness of how unjust the world is, that it is overflowing with resources, and yet those resources are horded by the few. I wanted to write about climate change, but in a fresh way, and fancied creating a cool magic system!
MUF: While taking place in a secondary world, Storm Singer invokes the Arabian Nights and Hindu mythology in the form of the birdlike garudas. Can you tell us more about your use of folklore and myth, and how you adapted it for this tale?
SC: I wanted to create a whole fantasy world that was entirely eastern, but not too bound to one setting or another, hence mixing Indian mythology with the Arabian Nights. Plus I wanted to fill the tale with magic that didn’t owe anything to western/European fantasy. Ironically the concept of elves, dwarves, knights, dragons, etc are now so common they no longer feel ‘fantastical’. I wanted to bring that feeling of the weird and wonderful back, hence creatures like garudas and rocs.
MUF: Courtesy of a childhood accident, Nargis now uses a crutch to walk. What can you tell us about this aspect of her character?
SC: There’s not much to tell. It is just part of who she is. I took a lot of advice on how to portray her in a matter-of-fact, day to day way. Thematically it magnified the difference between her and Mistral, who can after all fly but is, for the most of the story, trapped on the ground as well.
MUF: You like to travel and to incorporate your experiences into your work. Did any of that come into play with Storm Singer? What sort of research or references did you use in developing this?
SC: I recently went to Morocco, so that will flavour the writing. But the main theme, the vast gap between those with wealth and power and those without, comes from the news, and just seeing what the world is. Covid certainly exposed many injustices between the classes, and that inspired Nargis’s story. The garudas in many ways represent the 1%, those rich enough to ignore the troubles of the world, while often being responsible for them.
MUF: What do you hope readers will take away from this story?
SC: Two things, love of the characters, and the awareness of injustice.
MUF: You’ve released 16 books in 16 years. How do you maintain such an impressive output in so many different genres and themes?
SC: I always say ‘yes’! Ask any freelancer and they’ll all tell you the same thing. You don’t turn down work. Themes come as you write, often they’re based on what’s happening in the world, but viewed through the distorted lens of fantasy. My first novel, Devil’s Kiss (2009), was written in response to the Iraq War and Storm Singer was heavily influenced by Covid, and the disparity between the haves and have nots. On top of the novels I’ve written Legend of Hanuman and Baahubali: The Lost Tales for Disney Hotstar and Amazon in India, about 12 seasons all in all. Now that I’ve been around quite a bit I do get editors approaching me with projects, and recently I’ve got jobs based on pitches and sample chapters, rather than having to write the whole thing. There are times when I do get burnt out, I must admit. But in the end I really like writing. There are so many different stages of the process. Research, first drafts, revisions, getting the cover art!
MUF: You’ve said that the best way to learn storytelling is to play role-playing games. Can you expand on that thought? What other advice would you give fledgling writers?
SC: RPGs are pure story-telling. I wrote my own adventures for years for our group, I still do. You can use them as testing grounds to your plots! Also, you have a live audience, your players. You can see what works and what doesn’t. They will ruthlessly exploit any plot holes! My other advice is FINISH. There are no more important words in a manuscript than ‘The End’.
MUF: You wrote a fantastic, apocalyptic Mesopotamian myth-inspired duology, The Adventures of Sik Aziz,for Rick Riordan Presents. What was it like working with that imprint, and is there any chance you’ll do more with them?
SC: IT WAS AWESOME! Rick and I had crossed paths previously, he was an early fan of my Ash Mistry trilogy and a huge supporter of my work throughout, plus we shared an editor, so there was a lot of overlap prior to being invited to join. I knew I wanted to write a Muslim protagonist, but the Arabian Nights angle had been done to death. The whole RRP gang are a great bunch, I’ve never felt such camaraderie amongst writers before. First time in my life I got to hang out with the ‘cool kids’. I do have something coming up soon, not quite RR-related, but VERY CLOSELY connected!
MUF: What’s next for you? Do you have anything else planned for the world or the heroes of this book?
SC: The sequel, The Crow’s Revenge! Oh, Sickle, my beloved crow assassin from the first book, has not finished with Nargis quite yet.
MUF: Bonus question: You’ve expressed a love of dragons as “boss-level creatures.” Which dragon from any aspect of literature, myth, or popular culture is your favorite?
SC: Easy! Tiamat! The goddess of chaos from Mesopotamian mythology out of whose corpse the universe was created. And, cough cough, the big bad in my novel, Fury of the Dragon Goddess…
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Sarwat Chadda is the New York Times bestselling author of the City of the
Plague God duology, the Spiritstone Saga, the Ash Mistry trilogy, the Shadow
Magic trilogy, and the Devil’s Kiss duology. He has written for Star Wars and
Minecraft as well as the 39 Clues and Spirit Animals series. Sarwat is a first
generation Muslim immigrant of South Asian descent who loves writing over
the-top adventures. His work has received numerous starred reviews and was a
Goodreads Choice Best Middle Grade Award Nominee. He has been published
in over a dozen languages. Outside of novels, he’s written plays, comic books,
and TV shows, including The Legend of Hanuman for Disney+ Hotstar. Sarwat lives in
London. Feel free to drop him a line on X (previously known as Twitter) at @SarwatChadda
and Instagram at @Sarwat_Chadda or visit him at SarwatChadda.com.
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