They’re more illustrative, rather than in the first book (where) almost all the photos are something that Jacob finds and is actually holding in his hand.”Īlong with choosing the photos, Riggs said, writing “Hollow City” was a different experience because he “already had the world and laid down the rules.” Jacob was no longer discovering elements as he had in the first book. “I used the photos in a different way, too. “I had to go and find photos to fit the story rather than shaping the story to fit the photos,” he said. The process of finding and using photos changed because, while he was able to tailor parts of the first book to its pictures, the plot of “Hollow City” was in motion and he needed to hit certain points.

“The more good stuff I found, the higher my standards got,” he said. Riggs looked through half a million pictures to find the photos for “Miss Peregrine’s” and a coffee-table book he was working on in tandem, “Talking Pictures.” “I was struck with how interesting and evocative and emotive these pictures could be,” he said, adding that the pictures were a “lost frame into another world.”Ībout a year later, after promptings from his publisher, Riggs started weaving the photos together with words because they “cried out for a story.” “It was at a big swap meet that I discovered you could buy other people’s old discarded family photos and vacation pictures for pretty cheap - a quarter, 50 cents, five bucks for a really nice one.”Īt first he couldn’t believe that anyone would be interested in the old photos, but then he looked through a bin of well-curated pictures. “I started collecting these pictures because I’ve always loved old photography but I never could afford anything from a photographer of note,” Riggs said in an interview with the Deseret News. In both stories, the dozens of vintage photos combine with Riggs' descriptive language to paint a world of peculiarities. In 'Hollow City,' Jacob and his friends embark on a quest to save a peculiar world. As he explores it, he finds more about the 'peculiar children' who lived there and realizes that the children may somehow still live there - unaged. In 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children,' 16-year-old Jacob Portman journeys to a remote island off the coast of Wales and finds the ruins of an orphanage where his grandfather once lived. These pictures served as the inspiration for and are peppered throughout “ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” and its sequel, “Hollow City” (Quirk Books, $10.99), which will be released in paperback on Feb. Now an adult, he collects peculiar vintage photos, which he began accumulating about five years ago. Ever since author Ransom Riggs was a child, he has loved collecting things.

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