Exclusive interview with M.R. Dale, author of the Sophie Hardy Saga

Sophie is an intelligent, hard-working, polite but very determined and self-assured 10-year-old. She lives with her mum, Amelia, Dad, Tom and baby sister, Lizzie, in a 12th floor apartment in the fictional (but loosely based on my home village where I grew up (Gotham, Nottinghamshire — yes, the one where Batman got Gotham City from and where my parents and brother still live)) village of Pinkleton. Sophie has three very loyal friends in Clara (her cousin), Yasmine and Katie but longs for something exciting to happen in life. All around her, adults have been addicted to implants inside their heads that let them access the internet from inside their own minds and so there is little to no interaction between anyone anymore. To make Sophie even more intrigued and annoyed, 10 years ago (just before she was born), the world was overrun with creatures from mythology known as Mythicals. These monsters would reap havoc on the world and cause untold destruction but one day, 10 years ago, they all disappeared in an event known as "The Departure". Nowadays, no adults (except for Sophie's dad) talk about them or really acknowledge that the mythicals ever existed and this intrigues Sophie because she wants to know why and knows that an implant would give her that knowledge but, being only 10, she isn't allowed one yet. I absolutely adore Sophie and some of the things she does and some of the things that happen to her as the saga goes on will hopefully pull on the reader's heart strings and see that the story is all character and story driven, nothing happens for the sake of happening or for unnecessary drama. I like to think that I have nurtured each of the characters very carefully and that each has their own story arc across not just the saga as a whole but each individual book. I hope that the reader laughs, cries and lives with Sophie for the duration of all eight books and the adventure she goes on.

My inspiration came from writing pieces to use in the classroom and realising that I actually really enjoyed crafting pieces of my own for children to use as inspiration. Over the years before I started writing the stories, I read numerous children's books by various authors and thought to myself, "I think I could have a go at this" and so one day I just got the laptop out and started typing. There are also plenty of television and film influences gone into my books. The original story started out as a sort of "Black Mirror for Kids". What if all adults weren't present for their children and were too busy to pay them any attention? What would the world look like but from a child's point of view? Then that kind of expanded from one book into two into three until finally a complete saga of eight with one ongoing story! I have also drawn on a lot of love for Doctor Who, the Marvel films and I would be lying if I didn't say Harry Potter. However, I have also taken inspiration from series aimed more at adults such as the aforementioned Black Mirror, Lost (for its ongoing mysteries) 24 (for its action and sense of urgency) and any series that puts its characters and storylines first.

Definitely! It is set in an alternative world but draws on many influences from this one. On the whole, a number of parents do spend less time with their children and more time on their phone or tablet. Is this right? Who am I to say? I'd argue that in a few years an Internet Implant as I called it in my story could well become a real thing and so the idea of it being metaphorical would be even slimmer because it would be so much closer to reality than many would be comfortable with. Throughout the books there are also many other real-life issues that are touched upon such as inequality, the world being run by multi-national corporations and less by governments, whether it's right to treat others differently because they aren't the same as us. All of this is hopefully done in a way that people (particularly children) can relate to and I don't for one minute see myself as an oracle on what is right or what is wrong, I just wanted to share my story and hopefully make a difference to the world in a positive way.

The podcast was how I originally envisaged putting the book out there. It is narrated by my work colleague (at school) and best friend, Leona, who gets paid in nothing but biscuits! (Although she will argue that she has never actually received any!) She does, as you can hear, a really fantastic job, especially considering she is an amateur and has never done anything like it before other than read stories to her class! The podcast was my way of getting my books the most exposure without it costing me a fortune or, if I were to get lucky with a publishing company, relinquishing all the rights to my characters. I have worked extremely hard on them and for a long time these wonderful characters only lived in my head and I don't want to give them up for anyone but I do really want to share them and their adventure now that all eight are complete and the podcast was the best way to do that. Then I found the self-publishing section on Amazon (KDP) and uploaded everything to there. After that I realised I needed a good cover and so advertised on the internet for an illustrator. I interviewed a few before I found Rassin (a very talented illustrator from France). I can be very picky with the drawings so he could see me as a very awkward customer but he does an absolutely amazing job! I am looking at releasing one book on Amazon every six months or so. That should take me through to 2026 I think! The audience reaction to it has been excellent. We have a good number of regular listeners (although that may be my mum listening to it on repeat and all the ladies from her "Thursday group" that she has told about it!). Being a teacher, I have a group of children at school who are either listeners or readers and many have bought copies and asked me to sign them, which I have happily obliged. One girl even came dressed up as Sophie for World Book Day last month and her brother came dressed as me as an author! That definitely brought a tear to my eye and meant the absolute world to me!