 The Inspiration
'I did not think it possible to surpass Dreamcatcher, but Jen McVeity has done it. She has addressed current and
relevant themes that will touch kid's hearts and show them that their dreams and passions are understood by our 'adult' world. A message with power about human passion and human relationships.'
(Dr Anne Flood, director, Tall Poppies.)
Is there going to be a sequel to Dreamcatcher?' kids used to ask me. And I always laughed and said 'No, sorry, I don't do
sequels.' I must have answered that a hundred times. And then one day in my office, for no real reason at all, I suddenly thought, 'Hey, I'd love to do a sequel of Dreamcatcher.' As if
it was all my own idea. (Thanks guys!)
I really, really loved writing Dreamcatcher. Creating the Green Guerrillas and figuring out all
their amazing eco-campaigns was a terrific challenge. And all through the book, when I was writing about Tess's family and the endless fights, I really bled for her. Sometimes I even
cried a bit for Tess and her two mothers and even for poor Michael, so trapped in his work-is-more-important-than-breathing role. (And I know my editor cried too because the
manuscript came back with blotches all over it.)
So I thought about a sequel. And I thought about what I had - and I made a sort of list in
my head. And here's what I came up with.
 Item 1. I already had the characters created. Tess and her family and the Green Guerrillas. Creating characters and not making them too
goody-goody or too wussy was hard work. Therefore it should be a cinch to go on from there. Right?
Of course, there was just a small problem that I had forgotten lots of little things about them.
Like what colour was Toni's hair? And was Jacob's bedroom upstairs or downstairs? And where did Tess do her homework – in her bedroom or in the kitchen? That meant I'd
probably have to read my own book again and make notes just to get it all right!
Item 2. I had a great character, lurking in my mind just waiting to be used. A boy, who talked
a lot of new age philosophies and quoted Deepak Chropra – but who also had a black belt in karate and liked to fight. Perfect for Tess. But was he going to be an influence for good or
bad? I wasn't sure. But I'd definitely call him Matt, because every Matt I've ever known was either brilliant - or pretty unstable.
 Another plus, our son does karate (that's him there in the picture) so I knew a bit about the sport.
Item 3. A line I read somewhere seemed useful. Certainly it had stuck
around. It was actually about racism and it told how these three really weird guys created a web page under a fancy sounding name. And because it looked so professional, people thought they were some
huge organization with thousands of members - when really they were just a couple of tin-pot crack-pots operating out of the back garage.
And I thought, you could really use that for good too. One of the
biggest problems about being a kid is that no-one listens to you. But if someone like the Green Guerrillas started operating by web and email
, everyone might assume they were adults. And they could have a whole lot more influence.
Item 4. Trawling on the Greenpeace site, which I seem to do often, I started learning about
dioxin and the problems it caused. (Honestly, I wasn't researching for the sequel at that stage. Really….) Dioxin is an incredibly dangerous pollutant. It gets taken up by the fat cells
in the body and stays there, gradually breaking down the immune system. Diabetes, leukemia, birth defects have all been traced to dioxin pollution. Remember the huge outcry about the
drums of soil contaminated with dioxin which were just sitting and rusting away behind a shabby barbed wire fence in Homebush Bay, Sydney? Any kid could have crawled under that
fence and played in that site. Really frightening stuff.
There was one line which stayed in my mind and I actually used it in the book. When I
checked later to see if I had got it right, I had used the exact words. 'A piece of dioxin the size of a small grain of rice is equivalent to the yearly maximum dose for one million people.'
So small, so deadly – the words sent goose bumps all over me. And suddenly I heard Matt's
voice in my head, speaking loudly in frustration: 'Hell, this world's all the same. If you can't see it, it can't hurt you, is that it?'
Item 5. At the end of Dreamcatcher I gave Michael huge hope of repairing his relationship with Tess.
He really does love her. But old habits keep on keeping on. Could he really change so radically? I was never quite sure at the end of Dreamcatcher,
but I did hope so. Yet what would happen if he came under pressure at work even more? Like if he was running for election again and things were going really wrong. What would Michael do if he
had to choose between helping Tess with one of her campaigns – or fight to save his own job?
Item 6. Laura was so strong physically in the first
book, but so tightly strung too. Would she still be content to stay in the background? Not a chance I figured. She'd be lobbying to be part of the team any minute now. With her
trampoling skills and strength she was a total thrill seeker.
And I figured it was about time Margot had a lover, she'd been single too long - she was a
woman as well as a mother after all. And Tess wasn't going to like that much, that's for sure. Especially if Margot didn't tell her and she found out by accident.
And Jacob was always wanting to be more radical than Tess in the Green Guerrilla campaigns,
so maybe it was time let him have a bit more of his own way and see what happened. And Matt could pull the power towards himself too; poor Tess would have a real leadership problem
on her hands if she wasn't careful.
Well, with all that going for it, a sequel was really an excellent idea. And I had just finished
another project. And I needed to write something creative, challenging…..
So I started playing around with the title. Because usually I can't start writing until I have a
title. I knew the Green Guerrillas would have to work in secret. They would fight against a paper mill that wanted to build in town because paper mills have dioxin as a side product.
They'd use web pages, email, e-newsletters to campaign. If Michael was fighting for his career in an election which was going sour, Tess would have to stay right in the background,
in the shadows. Shadows – that was the word I wanted in the title. I made a few rough lists: Shadow Dancer, Shadow Catcher, Shadow Searcher….
Shadow Seeker.
I like it! And that's when I started researching and writing.
Throw it all together and two years, nine edits and 71,000 words later, this is what I got.
You try delivering a rat to the city's top-rating current affairs program.
I took a deep breath, marched across half a hectare of chrome and carpet and placed the box right in the middle of the receptionist's desk.
'This is a present for Amanda Brinkley,' I told her. Amanda Brinkley, the anchorwoman
of the show, claimed to be an avid champion of animal rights. Well, rats were animals weren't they? Just as much as rare Bengal tigers and pandas that looked oh-so perfect on TV.
'And who are you?' The receptionist was wary.
'I'm a friend of Amanda's daughter,' I told her, trying to sound as though I hung out at their place every second day.
Through the airhole a small pink eye peered out. A few whiskers twitched in the air. I'm
not sure if rats could smile, but this one gave a pretty good imitation…
Saving hundreds of rats from the dissecting knife was only the start of the Green Guerrilla's
campaign. Their leader is Tess Robertson, is a genius at fighting environmental pollution and injustice – and equally brilliant at fighting with friends and family at the same time.
And now Tess is planning her biggest fight yet. She has to stop a billion dollar paper mill
setting up in town - and pumping dioxin, one of the world's most toxic pollutants, into the air.
And all she has to help her are the three Green Guerrillas, a reckless kid sister and one dark
-eyed karate kicking photographer who can't take 'no' for an answer.
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