Writing Peter Pan: The Sequel

Some commissions come with more pressure than others. Imagine, for example, being asked to write a sequel to one of the world's best loved children's books. In The Guardian, Geraldine McCaughrean explains how she tackled the challenge after winning a contest to write the sequel to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan.

I only discovered the extent of Peter Pan's popularity when my win was announced in the press. It is a Pandemic, you might say: he is the darling of countless fans; big business; the subject of raging controversy. There are Tinker Bell fetishists and Hook aficionados, Wendy worshippers and Neverland neophytes. How could I possibly satisfy them all? My other 140 books have not warranted - or have not attracted - large-scale PR. This one will.

Peter Pan in Scarlet, by Geraldine McCaughrean, will be published by Oxford University Press on October 5, price £12.99.