“In 1995 Clive began painting huge dream-images which were wholly unlike his previous paintings. He began to think of them as the illustrations for a collection of 25 tales; a 'Book of Hours' which would describe all the emotions of a day, hour by hour (with an extra, mystical 25th hour). The Book Of Hours became a whole world - The Abarat - and as the paintings kept coming, so the story grew and grew into a series of four, and then five books..”
To read more about Clive Barker and how he wrote the Abarat series, check out his website http://www.clivebarker.info/youngabarat.html
