“As soon as I start scaring myself too much, I find myself reaching for humour”
Both of the Finnegan Quick books hit just the right mix of comedy and horror. Was finding this balance a tricky process?
I crack jokes whenever I’m nervous, and I just bring that to my writing. As soon as I start scaring myself too much, I find myself reaching for humour. Having a genius editor really helps. Ben Schlanker at Bloomsbury has an exquisite eye for spotting where to dial up the horror. And when to pop the tension with a gag.
The Finnegan Quick books read as affectionate tributes to the horror genre. Did you have any specific inspirations – book, TV, film or anything else – when you sat down to write this new book?
I have so many beloved comedy-horror movies – and Finnegan Quick is a tribute to all of them, from American Werewolf to Zombieland. The very best are both properly scary and properly funny – like Gremlins and Goosebumps, Lost Boys and Stranger Things. And that’s what I wanted to achieve with Finnegan Quick; something that’s ‘proper scary’, but with enough laughs that your nightmares will be good fun.
Did you have an imagined reader in mind when writing The Fate of Finnegan Quick?
I always imagine my own kids reading them. They’re between 10 and 15 so a perfect age. My son is easily scared, but my daughter is impossible to scare (almost). So I try to make sure they’ll both love it. My son didn’t have nightmares, which was a result. And my daughter read Finnegan Quick three times in a row. As a children’s author life doesn’t get any better than that.
A pulse-pounding horror story by Laugh Out Loud Book Award winner Larry Hayes
Do you have a favourite character in The Fate of Finnegan Quick? If so, why?
I think it has to be Squid, Finn’s best friend. Squid’s read 1000s of books, including all his mum’s psychology books, so he’s full of handy psychology hacks that sometimes work. It turns out teenagers love psychology hacks – so I’ve really dialled them up for book 2 in the series. Squid’s also read all his mum’s murder mysteries. So he’s a great comedy combination – part Sherlock Holmes, part shy, awkward and mainly terrified teenage boy.
How did the idea of the banshee in The Fate of Finnegan Quick come about?
I had an Irish granddad who terrified me with tales of banshees when I was a kid. It always horrified me that they wailed at your window because they could foresee your death (including my great, great, grandmother’s, apparently). So when I decided to set the book on the West Coast of Ireland all those banshee stories just came tumbling back into my head.
While both books are laugh out loud funny and nightmarishly spooky, there’s also real emotion throughout, not least in Finn’s relationship with his Gran. Was it important to you to weave this through the humour and horror?
All the books I’ve truly loved have emotional heart, something that draws you back and makes you read them again and again. If readers of The Fate of Finnegan Quick come for the laughs and the scares, but remember the humanity, then I’ve created something truly worthwhile. My main writing goal is to make my editor frightened, laugh out loud, cry and then laugh again. I can always do that by missing writing deadlines, but I prefer to do it with my actual writing.
And finally, with spooky season just around the corner … will you be dressing up for Halloween this year?
Of course. I’ll keep dressing up all the while my kids are still up for playing “Dracula in the House”. It’s like hide and seek but with the risk of becoming undead. We cut all the electricity and they have to come into the house with a torch and find the sleeping Dracula before he gets them.
