Tim Tilley on Capturing the Magic of Nature

I grew up with a love of nature, especially woods and forests. There was a small spinney, not far from home, that I loved exploring. In fairy tales, woods and forests were places of enchantment, adventure and transformation. One of my favourite trees was a hollow oak in Bradgate Park.

My brother and I crawled through a cave-like opening at the base of the trunk, then climbed inside to the tree crown. We imagined it was a wooden castle and we were in Robin Hood or Narnia. Sometimes we collected small souvenirs of our adventures – winged seeds, moss and fallen leaves – and took them home in empty matchboxes. These were a way for us to stay close to nature.

I loved illustrated books and losing myself in their details. I especially loved Jill Barklem’s Brambly Hedge series, which took the magic miniaturization of doll’s houses and brought it outside and across the field. I’m also a huge fan of the Usborne Spotter’s Guide series. These are field guides full of facts and information on the natural world. I remember one time, aged ten and inspired by a Spotter’s Guide, filling an old fish tank full of pond water and frogspawn. My brother and I watched as the spawn changed from full stops to commas, then to tadpoles and tiny frogs.

Harklights originally started life as an idea for a picture book. On a return trip to Bradgate, I was amazed to see that the hollow oak we had once played in, more than a decade ago, was still standing. I could no longer squeeze through the cave opening into the tree, but it didn’t matter.

As we returned to the car, in the fading light, what seemed to be a distant tree stood up and revealed itself to be a stag. This magic moment burned in my mind. It kindled the spark of an idea – a boy meeting a magical tree-stag and riding through a forest. At the time of working on the picture book, I had the sense there was a much bigger story waiting to be told, so I put it away in a drawer.

When I revisited the forest story, a strong image came to mind, of an orphan finding a tiny baby in an acorn-shaped cradle. I knew the baby was seemingly abandoned and that their family of Hobs – miniature protectors of the forest – would come looking for them. From this moment, the story of Harklights unfolded – Wick, Papa Herne, the tree-stag and wood-sprites, the match factory and Old Ma Bogey.

At the time of writing, I had no idea that a first draft was a raw story that needed reflection, rewriting and editing. I eagerly sent my finished manuscript off to a national writing competition. I didn’t win, but was regionally shortlisted. The feedback letter kindly said that Harklights had potential but needed lots and lots of work. So, I put the manuscript back in a drawer again and worked on ideas for other books – middle-grade novels and picture books and early reader stories.

But I still kept coming back to Harklights. Whilst writing the second draft, I revisited my memories of woods and forests and visited new ones. I wanted to capture the wonder of the natural world by looking at it close-up, just as I had when I was growing up. I carried notebooks with me and recorded all the little details – the humming of bees, the softness of moss, the dappled shadows of leaves. I brought a handful of old Star Wars figures with me, to help me get a sense of the scale for the Hobs’ world. Acorn cups and half hazelnut shells became bowls for serving soup or pine-needle tea. A paper-wasp nest became a pigeon-hole cabinet to store important things. All of these notes and sketches helped me to develop Wick, my main character, who discovers nature for the first time in the book.

I brought matchboxes with me again, filling them with tiny treasures so I could take the forest home. The one rule I had was to only take storm-fallen leaves, twigs and bark. Like the Hobs, I don’t believe in damaging living trees.

For the illustrations, I went back to my old charcoal drawings for the original tree-stag picture book. I also revisited A Necklace of Raindrops by Joan Aiken, and Jan Pienkowski’s silhouette illustrations. I love how they don’t fully reveal the characters, but just give a sense of them, leaving space for the reader’s imagination.

I wanted Harklights to capture the magic of nature. Nature is waiting in wild spaces – not only woods and forests, but also churchyards, parks and allotment plots. Nature needs us to be its champions and campaigners, guardians and, of course, Forest Keepers.