This is my favourite book in the series. It was very easy to write, which was a relief after the trouble I had with 'Serpent Soup'.
As with the other magical creatures in the series, the ghosts in this book are not scary, just troublesome. I was fascinated by the idea of them having no substance and therefore able to share the same space at the same time. Ghosts are usually seen individually or in small numbers. But what would happen if a big crowd of ghosts had to squeeze into a small space? They would overlap into each other, making a fog of bodies. Some of them might have to stand inside each other 'like a set of Russian dolls'. I thought that there was a lot of fun to be had with this idea.
Although there are now two baddies in the book - the unscrupulous property developers, Clobber and Snatchett - there was originally only one, a council official called Mr Pincher. Then, I had the idea for the scene where the baddy breaks into the house and suddenly finds himself surrounded by ghosts. I thought this would be funnier if the baddy misunderstood the ghosts' innocent behaviour and runs, completely terrified, from the house. But I needed the baddy to return to the house at the end of the story and I thought that if he was too scared, he wouldn't dare to come back. So I changed the story so that there were two baddies, instead of one, so that one of them (Clobber) could run off, while the other (Snatchett) would be more persistent.
If you have read what I have to say about 'Goblin Stew' you will know that the book's title came first and the story came afterwards. The same is sometimes true of chapter titles. I wasn't sure what the goulash was going to be like once it was cooked, but having come up with the idea of lightening bolts striking the saucepan as it was cooking, the phrase 'Flash-Bang-Dollop' came into my head (it's a pun on 'Flash -Bang-Wallop', which is a song from a musical). I liked this phrase so much that I wanted to use it as a chapter title. That's why I made the goulash come out as a thick gooey dollop!
Have you read this book - then why not try the Cookbook Quiz?
This is my favourite book in the series. It was very easy to write, which was a relief after the trouble I had with '
