Exploring world-building with Jacob North, author of Ice Apprentices


About Author
Discover a wintery world of ice, danger and magic in Ice Apprentices, Jacob North's debut novel.
Jacob North was born in South England and grew up with a longing for magical adventures that centred LGBT+ characters. Struggling to find them on bookshop shelves, he decided to write them himself and now crafts whimsical worlds with characters who happen to be diverse.
The Ice Apprentices, his debut magical adventure, is the first book in a planned middle-grade series.
Interview
Jacob North, author of Ice Apprentices, explores...
February 2025
In the Tundra, a world of ice and magic, the students at Corridor are learning how to cast spells and what they need to survive in this dangerous landscape. Newcomer Oswin Fields feels he has more to prove than most so when monsters start to attack Corridor, he risks everything to save the school he loves.
We find out more about Ice Apprentices from author Jacob North, and hear his top tips for world-building and creating magical monsters.
Read a chapter from Ice Apprentices. Review: "A frosty fantasy adventure with the most modern, magical cast of characters!"
Q&A with Jacob North, exploring what inspired the Ice Apprentices series and its magical setting
"There's no better way I like to peer into a fantasy world than through the lens of a school, and the students
learning who they are as they grow up within it."
1. Ice Apprentices is your debut novel. Can you tell us what brought you into writing for children and what kinds of things you enjoy writing about? How does being a teacher help you in your writing?
I've always loved a magic school adventure. There's something about knowing you'll be returning to that same school setting for multiple adventures that allows you to get familiar with it. The magic, the characters, the lessons, the quirks and dangers of the world can be built upon in each new book, but always with that same known location. There's no better way I like to peer into a fantasy world than through the lens of a school, and the students learning who they are as they grow up within it.
As for what kinds of things I enjoy writing about, the truthful answer is a lot, because I always write what I'm interested in at that moment. I love all things winter, which was the first stepping stone on the way to creating Ice Apprentices. Then I got really interested in cave diving, inspiring the frost caves - many of which are underwater - and the delvers who swim through them. Then I was fascinated by how lock picking works, and so wrote about Oswin using it as a hobby to calm his chatty thoughts. I find ways to take whatever I am currently interested in, and weave it into whatever story I am currently losing myself in.
I also bring in my own personal experiences, which does mean that being a teacher has helped immensely with writing a school setting. Being a teacher let me see first-hand how smart students are. The speed at which children develop skills is astounding and inspiring! It also let me see how teachers interact with each other, something I'd had no clue about back when I was a student.
2. What inspired you to write Ice Apprentices - and what happens in the book? How many Ice Apprentices books do you have planned?
So I was inspired by a combination of stuff I loved: wintery settings, snow, cabins, pine trees, log fires. I put it all into a blender to see what came out. Then for the magic I was heavily influenced by the idea of powers that grant what you ask, but in unexpected, or even deadly ways, making spellcasters have to be ruthlessly careful with their wording.
In this world of winter and careful-what-you-wish-for magic lives Oswin Fields. An outcast of Tundra, he feels lucky to go to the training grounds to become an ice apprentice. There, he hopes to learn magic and prove that he belongs in the settlement. When monsters begin attacking, Oswin's obsessive curiosity drives him to investigate why. If he can stop the beasts, maybe he won't feel worthless, so he'll do all he can to get answers, even at the cost of his own life.
The adventures of the ice apprentices will continue beyond book one. I have three books currently planned but, in all honesty, I think so much about my stories that I often have plans going far beyond simply because I love thinking about the characters and where they'll end up.
3. Can you tell us how the world of Ice Apprentices developed? How did you go about creating the school setting and the magical elements within the story?
Ice Apprentices came out of my love for a snowy setting. Growing up (and even now) I hold my breath every winter for snow. The last time it snowed was late at night, yet I still wrapped up warm, went outside and built a snowman, because I refuse to miss the rare opportunity to do so! Creating a story that lets me live in such a freezing landscape was mandatory. Everything else clicked into place as I thought about how an isolated society with limited technology would survive in such harsh conditions. How would they get food? Build homes? Make equipment? What obstacles would get in their way? With a lot of thinking, it all slotted into place.
The training grounds, Corridor, and the name of the settlement itself, Tundra, both came from the decision that a settlement in such a harsh environment would have an on-the-nose culture. The way they name things, then, is also very on the nose. Corridor's first building was a long, corridor-like building called ‘the corridor'. As more buildings were added and it became a place to train ice apprentices, they all kept calling it ‘Corridor' until the name stuck. Same goes for Tundra, which is a large stretch of flat, snowy land. A Tundra, and so it was named as such.
As for the magical elements, I wanted something that causes as many problems as it solves. The wonder of Tundra to me is just how hard the settlement has to work to survive. If the magic was too easy to use, it would trivialise the struggle of endurance. Why would Tundrans bother with all these dangerous expeditions to get food, or such long, arduous processes to grow the seeds they find, if magic could do it instantly? The magic had to be dangerous. High risk, high reward.
So it became more like wish-granting magic. Each spell is a request to the magic to do something using three words or less, with the fewer words you use making the spell stronger but far riskier. If the magic misunderstands what you ask it, or if it decides to deliberately twist your words against you, people can be seriously hurt or killed. Entire buildings can be collapsed. Raging fires can swallow entire villages. The magic can be vital for survival, but for all but the most skilled spellcasters magic is just as likely to destroy someone as it is to save them.
4. What about the monsters you create in this world, how did they develop and do you have a favourite?
When creating the monsters for Tundra I wanted them to feel equally scary and odd. They needed to be a threat, but also strange. Like the sorts of animals you see in the deepest parts of the ocean. Or obscure fungi or insects. They feel familiar enough to creatures we understand, but they're so removed from what we're used to that 'odd' is the only word for them. I love that sort of oddness, so when creating the monsters I always tried to combine things that either clashed against each other, or were strange concepts to be a part of an organic body from the start.
I adore the kikorka - a combination of a frog and an orca - and I love the randomness of the skelaard having a fireplace for a face, out of which it can breathe fire. But my favourite is the no-read, purely because we don't know what it looks like. The no-read is a monster of function, not appearance. Knowing how it works - appearing and attacking only those who read a description of its appearance - makes it a monster of concept. The imagination can run wild with what it may or may not look like.
5. Which magical spell would you like to take home with you from the world of Tundra?
That's a tough one! I'd have to pick very carefully. If I take home the wrong spell, I could cause a lot of destruction. I'd definitely have to choose one with three words. One and two-word spells may be stronger, but the higher risk isn't worth it. I'd also want to pick a spell that's useful for lots of different occasions, but not so vague that it's difficult to cast without the magic getting my intentions wrong. Which makes me think of: 'The Timber Moves'.
I'd be sure to always carry bits of timber in my pockets. With enough practise and skill, I would essentially have permanent timber telekinesis. I could build log cabins in moments without any difficult lifting. I could use wooden platforms to levitate people up and down to reach difficult to get places. I could attach string to the bits of timber I'd carry with me to create perfectly accurate, and easily manoeuvrable, grappling hooks. If you get creative, the possibilities are endless! That is, so long as the magic never misunderstands me and attacks me with my own shards of timber…
6. Where is a good place for young writers to start in creating their own fantasy world? What are your top world-building tips?
Start with what you enjoy! What worlds would you want to get lost in? What other worlds are you inspired by and why? I am a firm believer that you should write for one person only: yourself. If you're not having fun or getting fulfilment out of writing, there is little I'd recommend more than changing that.
To have fun writing, I think you first need to write what you want to write, and second take the pressure off yourself about the quality. Have fun first. Developing your skills comes with practise, which means writing, an unlikely thing to happen if you hate doing it. And don't forget, you don't need to develop your writing if you don't want to. Don't be afraid to write badly, sing off key, dance embarrassingly, or fall in sport. Enjoy yourself, in whatever form that takes, and regardless of whether or not you're 'good' in whatever it is you're doing.
If you're struggling with where to start in terms of world building, I find it best to start with one strong idea that is central to the setting and work out from there. I may start with a huge wealth divide, and then ask: how did this divide come about? Who does it benefit? Will it always be this way, or are people working to change it? With Ice Apprentices, I started with the idea of a ruthlessly cold world, which lead to: how do they stay warm? What do they eat? As I kept adding onto that one central idea - a freezingly cold world - the rest of Tundra sketched itself into reality. They stay warm by huddling indoors, building log fires or wearing many layers of clothing, but they don't stay warm by using coal magic, because it's too dangerous. They get food from scouters searching the Endless Expanse for resources. They have a training ground that, because of the harsh environment, doesn't mind if students perish as a way of 'weeding out the weak'. Bit by bit, more factions, history, obstacles and culture burst forth as I kept thinking about what the result of living in such a cold world would be.
7. Can you give some writing tips or starters for children to create monsters they might find in their fantasy world?
One method I find really fun for monster-building is combining animals and objects to create something new and peculiar. Or I'll take a concept, like how the monster hunts, or what it's motivations are, or even how it functions, and build the beast around that. The previously mentioned no-read is one example, a beast that formed entirely around the concept of not being able to read about it.
You can also think about what it is you want to achieve with the monster: is this beast cute? Ugly? Evil? Friendly? Wise? Does it speak a language? How many? What does it need to survive and what will it do to get that? These are just a few ways you can start monster building, but there are so many more too.
8. Who are the key characters in the story? And why did you decide to explore gender identity through these characters?
Oswin and Ennastasia are the foundation of this story. The slow building of their friendship, through bickering investigations, is the driving force behind the book's events.
In terms of exploring gender identity, Oswin really wants to be accepted and seen as like any other boy his age. Even more than that, he wants to prove that he is useful, and not a drain on Tundran resources.
9. Other than a fabulous story, what would you like your readers to take from Ice Apprentices?
That our worth shouldn't come from how useful we are, but from the simple fact that we exist and can feel pain and happiness.
10. Ice Apprentices is packed with adventure, but what has been your most amazing real life adventure? And what are your quieter pleasures in life?
Getting to work with personal heroes on Ice Apprentices has honestly been the most wonderful adventure I could have wished for. As for the quieter pleasures in my life, nothing beats a walk through the frosty woods near where I grew up, or reading a book in the window seat on a long train journey.