Philip Caveney was born in Prestatyn, North Wales. His father worked for the RAF and so Philip’s childhood was characterised by movement from one military base to another. This sense of movement, change, adventure and possibility is central to his first series of children’s books ‘Sebastian Darke’.

Featuring the mishaps and madcap misadventures of an aspiring jester, these are high-paced, action-packed novels. Philip’s enthusiasm is palpable and incredibly infectious, with a new series, ‘Alec Devlin’ soon to be published, he is definitely a rising-star in the world of children’s literature and one with a great deal to offer.

 Jake Hope met Phlip to talk about the writing of Sebastian Darke.

With a background in strong adult thrillers, how did you make the transition to children’s fiction and were there any specific challenges?

I don’t feel that I made any huge changes in my style when I decided to write for children. There are certain areas that need to be reined in for obvious reasons, but young readers these days are very sophisticated and well able to deal with quite complex plotting – and I was very keen to carry over the elements of action and suspense that I’d used in my adult thrillers. Everyone likes the thrill of the chase!

The books were first written for your daughter, placing you in a tradition alongside Beatrix Potter and Kenneth Grahame,;what has your daughter’s response been to the books?

It was really the most wonderful accident. My daughter, Grace (who was about 11 years old) was bored and wanted to read one of my books. I knew I couldn’t let her try one of my thrillers, so started writing Sebastian Darke, chapter by chapter, for her to read. I had no more intention than keeping her occupied for a few hours but she loved it and kept asking me, ‘What happens next?’ I suddenly realised that I was enjoying writing for children and of course, the book went on to become the most successful thing I’d ever been involved with. Grace is still one of the first to read whatever I write. She has just read a proof copy of Alec Devlin, and I’m delighted to report that was absolutely gripped by it.

 Was the idea of the triad between the main characters Sebastian, Max and Cornelius central to the book from its initial gestation or did this come later? Can you explain a little as to how you feel the interplay between the three is achieved?

Golly, that’s a tough question. Well, I initially had the idea for just Sebastian and Max as a duo. I envisaged Sebastian trying to be funny and Max shooting him down at every other moment – but then it seemed to me that there needed to be a third element, somebody who was strong and dependable, who could help them out of tight situations. I came up with the idea of a super warrior and making him tiny was just an added irony.

I was delighted the other day when I came across a comment in a Rumanian discussion group (in English, I hasten to add!) One boy was saying that he hated being small because he always got picked on, and a friend told him that size isn’t an indication of how tough you are. “Haven’t you read Sebastian Darke: Prince Of Fools?” he asked. I got a real buzz out of that.

Sebastian is very much an anti-hero and indeed a reticent and unwilling hero; what is it about this naïve and hapless figure that is endearing, do you think?

I think everybody has had that panic about being thrust into a role that they’re not really equipped for – whether it’s something as simple as being put into the school play when you know you can’t act, or being picked for the basketball team when you’ve got two left feet. So I think readers can identify with somebody who has to be the hero when he’s not actually cut out for it. It’s actually quite endearing and when Sebastian manages to be a hero despite all the odds, you kind of what to slap him on the back and say, ‘well done, mate, you pulled it off!’

The first book, Sebastian Darke: Prince of Fools draws upon many fairytale elements (though definitely lacks the Disneyfied happy ending!). What is your approach towards resolution needed in children’s books?

I was adamant from the start that these books would not feature the conventional happy ending. They are part of a series and if at the end of book one, Sebastian ends up married to the beautiful princess, where’s his motivation to go on with his adventures? Only perhaps in the final book could there be anything like true happiness for Sebastian – and even then, I’m not promising!

Beneath the surface of the comic capers in these books, the dynamics of cultural integration are explored. Sebastian himself is a ‘breed’, the offspring of a human father and elvish mother. Cultural differences between Max’s Buffalope society and Cornelius’ Golmiran one are explored with verve and wit in the acceptability of ‘trumping’… Do you feel cultural integration is one of the challenges facing modern children, and in what ways do you feel this is achievable?

I suppose the point I was making there is that most societies have some kind of inherent racism in them. Sebastian finds it difficult to fit in with everyone, because he’s not quite human and not quite elvish – he’ll always feel like an outsider. Max of course, is a beast of burden and he has a lot of points to make about man’s inhumanity to animals, while Cornelius is discriminated against because of his size. All three of them manage to overcome these problems, but only with difficulty. But I don’t want to get too serious on this issue, because at the end of the day, the Sebastian Darke books are meant to be fun – a slice of high adventure with lashings of humour. There are deeper messages lurking in the background, but I never allow them to overpower the fun elements.

There is a sense of lurking menace that underpins the novel – what with tree serpents, kelfers and yarkles. The real sense of danger that is attached to this is tempered by humour. Is humour used as a deliberate means to diminish this fear-factor? How far do you think it is possible to go in a children’s book?

Yes, I use humour to diminish the elements of terror, but they are nonetheless there and to be honest, I think most young readers enjoy being terrified. After all, it’s one of our earliest reasons for reading (or rather, listening to) fiction. Think about Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel. These are quite frankly terrifying tales when you’re very young and a parent is reading them to you at bedtime, but oh how we can’t wait to hear what happens next! The Alec Devlin books will have some incredibly scary moments, by the way.

Cornelius states; “There is nothing in this world that you can invent that is not dwelling somewhere in the shadows.” (p19) What does this tell us about our fears and their psychological basis?

This is the kind of very wise comment that Cornelius makes from time to time. He’s just pointing out that the world of Sebastian Darke is a grim and terrifying place and that real dangers lurk in the shadows waiting for three unwary travellers – just as they do in our modern world, though now they may come in very different guises,

To what do you attribute the secret of Sebastian’s unwitting success with women?

! I think he’s fairly good looking… and he has that quality about him that makes the ladies want to Mother him. As the series progresses, it becomes something of a running joke, he just can’t go anywhere without being pursued by ardent females!

The novels are told in a highly visual, almost cinematic way. One of the most vivid and memorable scenes from the second book is the burning of Sebastian’s caravan and jester’s hat. Was the rationale for this as a means for removing his past, or was it mainly a way of removing a substantial physical encumbrance?

A combination of the two really. The trio were about to move into a landscape where a caravan would find it hard going – but it presented a wonderful opportunity to stage the symbolic casting off of Sebastian’s original intention, of quite literally stepping into his father’s shoes. That idea is at the heart of these books and it’s something so many boys experience – the father’s desire for them to follow in his footsteps. Looking back, my father was in the Royal Air Force and would have loved me to have done the same. But I just wasn’t cut out for it. Same with Sebastian. He can’t function as a jester… or can he? I don’t want to give too much away but in book three… ah no, I’ll let you read it for yourselves!

Prince of Fools and Prince of Pirates both have a central quest element to the narrative, as too does the forthcoming Alec Devlin: The Eye of the Serpent, that absolute sense of adventure and purpose brings to mind H Rider Haggard, were there any particular works that have influenced your writing and what elements and qualities are necessary for successful, fast-paced adventures such as your own?

The first writer that I was influenced by (back in my teens when I was taking my first tentative steps as an author) was Ray Bradbury – in fact, his novel Something Wicked This Way Comes was ‘the book’ – the one that made me want to be a writer. (So much so that it took me several years to write him out of my own style). I’m glad you mentioned H. Rider Haggard, because Alec Devlin is very much an attempt to return to that classic ‘Boy’s Own Adventure’ style of fiction and of course, as a child, Alan Quatermain and King Solomon’s Mines were two books that absolutely thrilled me from start to finish.

For a successful, fast paced adventure all you need to do is to grab your reader’s attention and make them feel they are taking part in the adventure themselves. If there’s a distance between them and what’s happening, you’ve got a real problem.

What can we expect in the third book Prince of Explorers and do you envisage there will be further outings for Sebastian following this?

Explorers is the darkest episode yet. The trio head deep into the jungles of Mendip, in search of a fabled lost city. On the way they discover a friendly tribe called the Jilith, who are locked in a struggle with their ancestral enemy, a race of warrior-beasts called The Gograth. The Jilith say that they will help our heroes find the lost city, but first, they must devise a way to vanquish the Gograth forever. There are huge battles, wild beasts, powerful rapids, bad jokes and towards the end, our heroes encounter the most deadly and terrifying foe they have ever faced.

 I’m hoping to do two more Sebastian Darke adventures after this one. I have a very definite story arc in mind, but we shall have to wait and see if I’m allowed to do them!

The Rod Hall Agency are representing the film rights for Sebastian Darke: Prince of Fools, what are your feelings regarding an adaptation of the book and at what stage is the process at?

I’ve had a Hollywood producer interested in making a movie of Sebastian Darke pretty much from day one – but don’t ask me what stage things are at, I haven’t the foggiest! Films really are such a long shot. You can wait years for it to happen and often, when it does, you wish it hadn’t because your story has been butchered beyond all recognition. I think the main reason to hope for a film is that it will take your work to a much larger audience and however bad the film version may be, the story you wrote doesn’t change one jot.

Are you still planning to write Max’s ‘Buffalope Tale’?

 That book is actually written but it’s a question of finding the right time to put it out. I think Max has such a distinctive voice, he deserves a story of his own and in the course of the book, you do find out why he grew up to be such a misery!

August will see the publication of Alec Devlin: The Eye of the Serpent what differences in writing style and technique did this necessitate and what advantages and/or constraints does writing a series of books hold for a writer?

Alec Devlin has been a real learning process for me. The world of Sebastian Darke is completely invented so I can pretty much include anything I want, no matter how fantastical. Alec Devlin: The Eye Of The Serpent is set in Egypt in 1923, so everything… every little detail had to be checked to ensure that it’s possible. OK, I’ve included some fairly fantastic elements too, but the background has to convince. Somebody picks up a phone. Somebody drives a car. Somebody reads a paper. There’s three internet searches right there and of course, you can’t just trust the first source you find; you have to double check everything. But a series is a joy. I resisted it for years when I was writing for adults but now I realise that ongoing stories give a writer the opportunity to develop the characters he or she has invented. I saw a review of Prince of Pirates the other day and it said something like, ‘This is only book two, but already I feel like these characters are old friends.’ And in the end, that’s exactly what I’m aiming for.

You have written a gritty young adult novel based in Manchester, do you aim to try to have this published?

I’d love to see it in print one day, as I’m very proud of it - but it’s very controversial and I’m not sure if there’s a publisher out there brave enough to give it a whirl! Maybe I’ll do it one day under a different name…

Thank you Philip Caveney for talking to Write Away