Louie Stowell Loki Q&A

February 23rd 2022

Louie Stowell writes funny fantasy fiction books for teenagers about gods, monsters, evil queens, portals, dragons and children who make a lot of very bad mistakes. Sometimes they learn from them. Her new popular fiction books for young adults, Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good, is the first in an exciting new series about Loki, the Norse God being banished to live on earth as an 11 year old boy, with amusing results. We find out more from Louie.

Q: What was it about Norse mythology that first interested you?

A: The weirdness and the variety. Norse stories also tend to be very action-packed and exciting - great for reading for pleasure, with plenty of humour too. They can be dark, but in the darkness, there’s usually something to make you smile.

Q: Do you have a favourite Norse-mythology-inspired TV show or movie?

A: YESSSS. Ragnarok! It’s amazing. Not at all suitable for children, but it’s brilliantly atmospheric with just the right amount of soapiness. Norse gods are reborn as teenagers in the present day, fighting giants who are also part of an evil corporation.

Q: What type of pen did you use for your illustrations? Did you explore other mediums/materials for your fantasy fiction books for teenagers beforehand?

A: Ooh this is my favourite question. I get very nerdy about pens. I did try dip pens for a while but they were too messy. I settled on Staedtler pigment liners, especially the chisel tip ones. I’m mulling over the idea of going digital, but not yet. I love my pens too much.

Q: Did you have a favourite book/series growing up?

Lord of the Rings. I knew it back to front and read it again and again. Though, my favourite version of it wasn’t the book, but the audio dramatization – it cut out all the boring stuff and focussed in on the drama. I learned Elvish as a teenager, wrote Lord of the Rings fanfic before I knew what fanfic was and decided to write a play of The Lord of the Rings as a child. But I couldn’t bear to leave out any of my favourite bits, which was apparently all of it, so the first scene was about 50 pages long. Oh, and the cartoon was ace, too. I love consuming stories across multiple media.

Loki is available to buy now. 

Download Loki Teacher's Notes

Download Loki activity sheets

Follow Louie Stowell on Twitter @Louiestowell.