Richard Harland reflects on writing Worldshaker, a 'very long story' based on ideas that came from 'a couple of dreams' (2). He describes three phases of writing the novel in terms of 'world building', 'growing of characters' and 'thematics' (2) and says one of its aims is to convey how 'childhood is far more precarious that we like to remember' (3). In this sense, Harland attempts to present 'growing up out of childhood [as] a time of strangeness, half facts and uncertainties' (3) through the genre of fantasy, which he says, has a tendency to 'bypass adult censorship and unlock forgotten memories' (3).