In The Captain of the Black Swan, a young orphan scrambles to prevent humans from discovering his magical treetop community as he comes face-to-face with an age-old legend following a devastating storm. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Diana: David and I are lucky enough to live in Dawlish, the small seaside town where The Captain of the Black Swan is set. The main railway line from London runs through the town and hugs the coast for several miles on either side.

The coastline is stunningly beautiful around Dawlish with high red cliffs edging the sea and local legends tell of elves and pixies who live among the wooded valleys and hidden coves.

One night, in February 2014, a vicious storm raged, bringing down trees and powerlines and tearing the roofs from buildings.

The next morning, David and I walked through the town and were shocked to see an enormous crater had appeared beneath the railway lines. Vast amount of rock had been pulverised and washed away.

By then, the sea had calmed and it seemed incredible that so much damage could have been done in a few hours when the railway had endured innumerable storms since it was built one hundred and sixty years earlier.

It took nearly a decade of work to stabilise the track. Sometimes, when David and I watched the engineers, we wondered if the storm alone could really have been the cause of so much devastation.

That was when we first thought about the Dittos and imagined how they may have been responsible for what happened without humans ever realising.

Which character in the novel do you feel you relate to more and why?

David: Burt, the owner of the recycling factory, has always been a favourite of mine. He is a bit of a hoarder, like me, and he spends a lot of time in his workshop making things out of other people’s rubbish. Again, like me.

When we started writing the story, it seemed Burt was so obsessed with running the factory, he didn’t care about Tom at all. But as we learned more about the characters, we realised Burt has many hidden qualities. Beneath his gruff exterior, he has a kind heart and there are reasons why he behaves the way he does.

It’s always good when characters develop as you write about them. It’s one of the things I like most about writing. Sometimes they surprise you!

I find that, while writing, you sometimes ask questions and have the characters answer them. Do you find that to be true? What questions did you ask yourself while writing this story?

Diana: I love questions! When I was at school one of my teachers told me it was impossible to get the right answers until we learned how to ask the right questions. I didn’t understand what he meant at the time, but I do now.

We certainly asked lots of questions while we were planning the story. The obvious question, was how the Dittos could have caused the damage to the railway line, but the more interesting question was why.

In the end, it was the characters of the individual Dittos that gave us our answers. The selfish characters, who only consider themselves, are the ones who cause the most damage. The kind-hearted Dittos, who value their community and the natural world, are the ones who keep asking questions until they discover the answers they need.

Can you give fans a peek into where Book 2 will take their favorite characters?

The Devil’s Footprints is the second book in The Dittos of Dawlish series. It takes the reader back in time to the 1860s when the railway line was first built through Dawlish by the great engineer, Isambard Brunel.

Only one character from the first book was alive then, and readers may find it hard to recognise him at first, as he is just a young boy when the story begins.

However, there are many new Dittos to meet, and even a few elves, who think themselves very superior because their wings allow them to fly wherever they choose.

Combining history and folklore, The Devil’s Footprints explores the importance of friends, family and honesty. With plenty of twists and unexpected echoes from the first book in the series, it explains how the Granite Gobblers first escaped from the dark regions far below the earth.

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