[1] Noting the movement of the clock's gears, he wrote the story with elements that move in opposite directions.

It has three main characters: Karl, an apprentice clockmaker who has failed to make a figure for the town clock; Gretl, who is a very selfless young girl and is the daughter of the innkeeper of Glockenheim and Fritz, a local writer whose unfinished story sets the gears of Clockwork turning.

[4] The townspeople gather in the White Horse Tavern the evening before a new figure for their town clock made by Karl is to be unveiled.

His heart has been replaced with a clockwork mechanism that enables him to drive his son home in their sledge.

A price must be paid for this gift, as Sir Ironsoul is a mechanical knight that comes alive and kills anyone who says the word "Devil".

[5] Pullman uses the literary technique of parallel authorial commentary, similar to Rudyard Kipling in Just So Stories.

[5] The author also takes the moral position that fulfilment cannot come solely from dreams, and needs dedicated hard work allied with inspiration to be achieved.

The Faustian allusions are made clear when Sir Ironsoul becomes murderous when the word "devil" is mentioned and can only be stopped by a special song.

[5] A version with music by Stephen McNeff and libretto by David Wood toured the United Kingdom before playing in the Linbury Studio Theatre at London's Royal Opera House in March 2004.