Pippa Dunn: 'I wanted to write a novel for today’s teenagers, even if it was set in the past'
BY Maya Fernandes
6th Aug 2026
In this interview Pippa Dunn, author of the debut teen historical fantasy The Sign of the Raven, shares her worldbuilding advice.
'Writing an alternate history meant I could take certain liberties, and it was enormous fun imagining how the architecture and institutions of the city might be transformed under an oppressive authoritarian government.'
We caught up with Pippa to discuss her time studying with us, her approach to character development and her book recommendations.
The Sign of the Raven blends historical fiction with fantasy, taking readers into an alternative nineteenth-century London where dreams have extraordinary power. What first gave you the idea for this story?
The Sign of the Raven might be a historical fantasy, but you would be very surprised how much within its pages is real…! The spark of inspiration is very much rooted in my own experiences, because – like the characters in the novel – I was a lucid dreamer as a teenager, and I still have an extremely vivid dreaming life! The spark didn’t set alight, though, until I moved to London, and instantly fell in love with the city and its past. I was enchanted by the thousands of years of history I could feel beating beneath the streets, and soon an idea began to take shape: a secret society of lucid dreamers headquartered in an ancient tavern in the old City of London. They say to ‘write what you know’ and so (in a funny kind of way!) I did.
The novel follows sixteen-year-old Ashlyn Threadneedle, a determined and resourceful heroine navigating a double life. What did you enjoy most about developing Ashlyn as a character, and what challenges did you face in bringing her to life on the page?
In lots of ways, Ashlyn arrived almost fully formed. She was so vivid to me right from the get-go, as were her best friend Dimitri and aunt Miranda (the landlady of that ancient tavern I mentioned…). Kit and Vesta, Ashlyn’s fellow lucid dreamers, quickly followed, and I often felt like each of these characters wrote themselves – I just had to keep up! My earliest creative background was in theatre, and in lots of ways I find myself drawing on the skills I learned on stage as I’m writing: inhabiting characters as if I were an actor, and then blocking a scene or giving the occasional note as a director might.
The biggest challenge, though, lay in the book’s 19th century setting. I wanted to write a novel for today’s teenagers, even if it was set in the past… how then, should my teenage characters talk? I decided that their dialogue should feel fresh and contemporary, while giving some of the secondary or comic adult characters a more Victorian cadence. I quickly found that this approach was a winning formula, and the dialogue flew from the pen!
You’ve written such richly imagined worlds, from Victorian London to the dream realm known as the Stream. How did you go about creating these two interconnected worlds, and do you have any advice for aspiring fantasy authors struggling with worldbuilding?
I have always been fascinated by the Victorian period and am madly in love with London and its history, so it was perhaps inevitable that my debut novel would plunge readers into a vivid nineteenth century version of the city! Of course, writing an alternate history meant I could take certain liberties, and it was enormous fun imagining how the architecture and institutions of the city might be transformed under an oppressive authoritarian government. The dreamworld of the Stream was the opposite in many ways, because of course you can do anything you like with a dreamworld. Establishing the rules and mechanics of the Stream was really crucial to make sure Ashlyn’s dreaming life felt as real and believable as her waking one – and the stakes every bit as high!
I think the most important thing for me was keeping both worlds grounded in something true. I adore the research phase of writing a novel, and I hooked Ashlyn’s story to all sorts of actual events, characters and curiosities from London’s past. Every setting in the book is a place that can still be visited today, and even the rules of the Stream were drawn from my own experiences of lucid dreaming. It might be a dreamworld, but it’s more than real to me!
What novel do you most frequently find yourself recommending to others?
What a fantastic question! I am constantly pressing books into other people’s hands, and recently I have been waxing lyrical about Will Maclean’s Solace House, Virginia Evans’s The Correspondent (of course!) and, in non-fiction, Ben Machell’s Chasing the Dark (which I have been reading as part of the research phase for the next book I’ll be working on).
But the book I am always recommending to readers of all ages is Frances Hardinge’s The Lie Tree, which won the prestigious overall Costa Book of the Year prize back in 2015 – one of only two children’s novels ever to do so (the other was Philip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass, another favourite). It is the book that confirmed for me the kind of writer I aspired to become, and remains an absolute masterclass in both plot and prose.
You studied with us on our Writing YA & Children’s Fiction – Three Months course and our Novel-Writing Intensive. How did your time with us shape your approach to writing?
Studying with CBC was a game-changing moment for me. I didn’t know anyone in the publishing world, let alone a published author, and having the encouragement of writers like Catherine Johnson, Craig Barr-Green, Laura Barnett and most particularly Suzannah Dunn was absolutely transformative. I realise now that it was a really crucial moment in my writing journey: it was that moment of intense self-doubt when the enormity of the task had revealed itself in all its gnarly glory, and the mountain seemed too steep to climb. Without my tutors’ fierce belief in this book (and in me!), I might have put the whole endeavour aside; but instead they gave me the confidence I needed to finish it. I emailed each of them the day I signed my book deal, and theirs are some of the fondest acknowledgements tucked inside the finished copy. I owe them such a lot.
Many of our students find lifelong writing friends on our courses. Are you still in touch with anyone you met during your time studying with us?
I am! I’m still in touch with a couple of the writers I met through CBC, and they have become great friends – even though we live in different parts of the world. There were some absolutely exceptional writers in my cohort, so I confidently expect great things from them all…! I am also fortunate to have a wonderful critique circle here in London, and new author friends I have made across the debut journey. Writing can be a lonely business sometimes, so I think that finding friends who love the craft as much as you do (and who can celebrate the highs and commiserate the lows!) is as essential as the laptop when it comes to writing a novel.
And finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
I am currently deep in developmental edits for my second novel (another historical fantasy that will be published next year). I can’t say too much just yet, but I can say that if you enjoy The Sign of the Raven then it will be right up your street. I’m calling it my ‘smoke and mirrors story’, and it involves steam trains and cemeteries and seances and stage magic! And I’m in the early stages of a brand-new project, too – one that came to me like a bolt from the blue eighteen months ago, and has been quietly biding its time ever since, waiting for space to open up on the desk. Once this draft of Book 2 is back with my editors, it’ll be that book’s time to shine!
Get your hands on a copy of The Sign of the Raven, out now with DK.
Pippa was a student on our Writing YA & Children’s Fiction – Three Months course in 2021, and Novel-Writing Intensive in 2022.
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