Booktime: Interview with Louie Stowell, author of the Loki series

Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Making Enemies is the fourth book in the series. Do you find that you’re learning more about Loki with each book?
Absolutely. While his voice and nature have been there from the beginning, I'm still discovering layers to him. I still don’t think I fully know what he's capable of. Will he ever become truly good? I don't know.

This book features an elf, Vinir, who is hellbent on having a duel with Loki. What inspired this character?
The Norse legend of Volund the Smith – also known as Wayland. He's a skilful yet murderous elf who turns his enemies' body parts into jewellery. I wondered what it would be like to be his son… and that’s Vinir. He's an elf with a lot to prove and a poor understanding of how to treat others. I've always loved elves in general – from Lord of the Rings to Elfquest – but exploring Norse myths of elves made me realise how truly bloodthirsty they could be. Vinir is very much his own person, but I had fun thinking about the nature of elves in general – what
place they might play in our culture without us realising, for example. There's very little written about elves in the mythological texts (though more in later folklore) so I felt like I had a lot of room to come up with my own vision. Oh, one important thing about elves in Loki's world is that they are accomplished magicians, but they’re an entirely oral culture – so they don't write down their spells. I wanted to explore what a culture that doesn't rely on writing might be like. For example, instead of contracts they have contract songs.

Vinir and Loki are mortal enemies, but Loki can't recall the reason why. Do you think that sometimes we hold grudges without even remembering what started them?
I have such an awful memory I never hold grudges. My wife has promised to hold all my grudges for me. Loki is an expert in forgetting when he's done bad things to others, but is less forgetful when someone does something bad to him.

Which do you think is harder – navigating life as an ancient Norse god, or as a modern-day schoolchild?
Compared to a modern child, Norse gods had it easy. No SATs, no online bullying – in fact, no online at all in Asgard. Though after Loki's adventures on earth I wonder if Odin will look at installing WIFI. Part of the fun of writing Loki was thinking about quite how hard it can be to be a child – all the suffering involved in school, in living up to parental expectations; even simply trying to wrestle your way through the complexities of modern mortal life.

The books are a mixture of illustrated text and comic book elements. How do you decide how to illustrate each bit, and does it change as you write and draw?
Sometimes an idea comes to me as a form of words or as an image. Other times I try it one way and the other and decide based on which way is funnier. I often plan out the longer comics early on in the writing process but when I start drawing them they change a lot.

Will there be another book in the series - do you have the whole series planned out?
There will definitely be seven books, but I have a plan for ten and beyond. The whole arc has been there from the start but I’ve added more twists and turns to the plan.

Which other authors inspire you in your work?
So many! But here are some childhood ones: Richmal Crompton, JRR Tolkien, Posy Simmonds, Willans and Searle (Molesworth) and Jan Mark.

What do independent bookshops mean to you?
I love how different each independent bookshop is, and how embedded in its community. I went on holiday to Lyme Regis this summer and, as you might imagine, it had a glorious collection of fossil books. But also a great sci-fi collection. It's that mix of place and the taste of the booksellers there that I love.