With the arrival of In an Absent Dream, the fourth book in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, readers will have passed through what feels like dozens of portal worlds by now: the Halls of the Dead, Confection, the Moors, and many more yet to be explored. With all of the adventures in and out of magical doorways, we can hardly remember a time before Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.
But do you know what inspired Every Heart a Doorway in the first place? McGuire has taken to Twitter for a brief but insightful FAQ about the Wayward Children series, answering the who, why, where, and what is up with that weird narrative structure.
And now, some Wayward Children questions, for your edification and delight.
— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) January 7, 2019
When @LeeAHarris at @TorDotComPub asked me for a novella, I thought of that song, and how much I wanted to write the story that went with it, but how much I didn't want to be locked into those unhappy endings. The story followed.
— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) January 7, 2019
It seems fitting, because of that, that it was largely written in England.
— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) January 7, 2019
DID YOU ALWAYS KNOW THAT IT WOULD BE A SERIES?
If you've met me, you're aware that I think of everything as a potential series. Everything. Yes, even that. I don't always get my way, but I'm always plotting.
— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) January 7, 2019
Doing it this way keeps me interested, which produces better books–like most people, I do my best work when I genuinely care–and also allows me to deepen and expand upon themes that may not have time to breathe on their first appearance.
— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) January 7, 2019
Omnibuses are magic, but they usually happen once sales have dropped off, or after the situation has otherwise changed in some monumental way. So this isn't on the docket currently, since a girl has got to eat. As to the future, who knows?
— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) January 7, 2019
WHY HAVEN'T YOU WRITTEN A BOOK ABOUT ______________?
All things happen in an order. This series is a carefully braided rope of causes and effects, and while I'm happy to tell you what happens next, sometimes we need to follow the right strands to make things count.
— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) January 7, 2019
BUT YOU'LL KEEP GOING, RIGHT?
I absolutely will. IN AN ABSENT DREAM is book #4. I'm currently committed through book #8. This means two more books at the school (#5 and #7) and two more portal fantasies (#6 and #8), minimum.
— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) January 7, 2019
Good news all around!
The next strand in that braided rope is Lundy, the rather unusual therapist first introduced in Every Heart a Doorway. You’ll get to meet a younger Lundy again (or, depending on your reading order) for the first time tomorrow, January 8, when In an Absent Dream is published!
Lundy is a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.
When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she’s found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the Goblin Market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well.
Read the first two chapters here. You can also catch up on our Wayward Children reread!
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