A Victorian Setting

A misty street shrouded in fog, softly illuminated by the glow of lanterns lining the path.

Mixing a blend of horror, action and mystery into a set of thrillers for young adults The Journals of Nicholas Briggs is set in Victorian Britain. The setting is a key element of the novels providing more than just an atmospheric backdrop for the novels. Certainly, a setting without electricity, instant communication, or the technology we often take for granted enhances the horror element of the story. It's much easier to believe in ghosts at night when there's no light switch within reach.

A candle surrounded by shadows

The first novel The Reaping Shadow follows Nicholas and Professor Ashcroft's investigation to a wraith in a pottery factory. The original concept of a sinister shadow existed before anything else. I found the idea of something lurking in the darkness terrifying. Who has not laid in bed at night and seen a shadow creeping across the wall? The wraith was born from this fear of the dark. This fear of being hunted by something from the shadows. In our modern world, the idea isn't as frightening. Thanks to electricity, we can keep a light on around the clock. All our hero would have to do is flick a switch and the danger is gone. I realised that such a threat would need to exist in a world without electricity, a world of flickering candles where something evil could lurk in the shadows.

Nicholas Briggs is the protagonist of the series. He is a fourteen year old boy. This is partly to appeal to a young adult audience and partly to give the series a coming of age feel. Nicholas's youth gives him an exuberance and a freedom from responsibilities from an adult. However, it does provide a major problem for a series of books about investigating the supernatural. Teenager of fourteen live at home, they go to school, their lives are very much influenced by adults, they certainly can't travel the country embarking on adventures and unraveling supernatural mysteries.

But a 150 years ago they could.

In 1860's Britain many children did not go to school. Children still worked in industry. School was only for the wealthy. It didn't become law until 1870 that children aged five to ten had to go to school and they were allowed to leave at eleven. Even then many children still didn't go to school as they were forced to work by their families and employers. At such at a time it does not seem unbelievable that a fourteen year old can be employed as an assistant to a debunker of the supernatural.

A stream engine under a tunnel

When compared to today life in Victorian Britain feels like a world lost to time. It is part of our past, yet no one living has witnessed it. No one alive today has experienced a world without cars or airplanes. Many younger readers have never known a time without mobile phones and the internet. For them, the thought of living in an era when steam engines were the height of technology is as alien as a mobile phone would be to someone in 1860. Victorian Britain has had a significant and enduring influence in the world around us, however sat surrounded by the modern world envisioning life during that period feels akin to a fantasy realm, much like Middle-earth or the world of Harry Potter. Placing the Interactive Novel in this era provides an escape that a modern setting simply cannot offer.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of setting the series in Victorian Britain is the way the supernatural elements tie in with the era. Safely gathered round a crackling fire on a winter's night tales of ghostly apparitions were a popular past time in Victorian Britain. This was time when the spiritualism movement was at its height. Mediums held seances amazing audiences by speaking to the dead or creating elaborate illusions. At the time new scientific enlightenment was questioning the world around us like never before. It was the perfect time to find someone like Professor Ashcroft using the latest science to counter the belief in the supernatural.