An Interview With Phil Caveney
Phil Caveney is the author of the Sebastian Darke novels
Jun 12, 2009
What was the first thing that you had published?
Apart from occasional letters to magazines and newspapers, my first published novel was called The Sins Of Rachel Ellis. It was an occult thriller, released in 1976. Unusually, my agent sold it to an American publisher first and they sold it back to the UK. As I recall, we got as very poor deal here – didn’t even make paperback, but it was my first book and I was as excited as a box of frogs. It’s weird, a couple of weeks ago, I got an email from a fan in America saying that they’d just read it and when would the sequel be out!
How long did it take you to secure publication?
Rachel Ellis sold surprisingly quickly, it only seemed to take a week or so – but I should point out that there had been two previous novels before it, each of which took a year or more to write and each of which never sold to anyone. They’re still lying around in my attic, unloved and never to see the light of day, most probably because… gosh, dare I say it? They weren’t very good.
Do you have an Agent? How did you go about getting one?
I do have an agent at the moment and at various points through my career, I’ve had others. I generally fall out with them about something. The accepted knowledge is you can’t manage without one, but I negotiated the deals for Sebastian Darke, books 1-3 and Alec Devlin books 1-3 myself, so it’s not impossible. I think for a first novel, it’s a great idea if you can get one, but it’s harder now to get an agent than it is to find a publisher. Seriously.
You might like to try the technique I used to find my first agent. I ran into the reception of her office on Tottenham Court Road like a mad idiot, dumped a full manuscript on her desk with a phone number and legged it. Amazingly, she got back to me.
For my new agent Jo, it was far less histrionic. I noticed in the SCWBI newsletter that she had just started up a children’s list as Connville & Walsh, so I emailed her and asked if she’d be interested in reading something. It turned out she was already a fan of Sebastian Darke and we went from there.
Now that you’re published does your publisher automatically look at everything that you write?
They have first dibs on whatever’s next, but Random House weren’t interested in my next project, so it has now gone out to nine publishers. At time of writing, I’m waiting to hear, but it’s only been a week or so.
What are you working on at the moment?
Three things. The Talent, which is a slightly futuristic novel about a gigantic talent contest; Movie Maniacs, in which children are able to enter movies and interact with the characters; and part 3 of Alec Devlin, which looks like it’s going to be set in Crete.
What inspired you to write the Sebastian Darke novels?
This story has become like a legend, but it’s true. My daughter Grace, who was around 11 years old, wanted to read one of my ultra raunchy adult thrillers. When I said she couldn’t, she became a little upset, so I rashly promised her I would write a story ‘just for her.’ That little story became Sebastian Darke, which became a series and has now sold in 20 countries around the world.
How many books do you think there will be in the Sebastian Darke series?
I want to do five. Whether they’ll let me do five, remains to be seen, The third book is out now and has a very unsatisfying conclusion, which talks about another adventure to come, so… fingers crossed!
Are there any plans to turn Sebastian Darke into a film or maybe even an Easter Sky special?
There’s been film interest in Sebastian Darke since it came out in 2007. I get occasional emails from a producer in America who tells me she hasn’t given up on the idea, that she’s showing it to Universal and Paramount, whatever, but it doesn’t mean a thing till the cheque’s been signed. If publishing is a lottery, movies are an even bigger one.
Do you ever write adult novels?
I haven’t quite given up on the idea, but when my children’s fiction is doing so much better than my adult output ever did, it would have to be a very special project to tempt me back. We’ll see…
Who is your all time favourite author?
I would have to plump for Elmore Leonard, American crime writer, author of Get Shorty, among others. He is a brilliant writer, arguably the best in the business. He started in the 1950’s as a copywriter, then started writing Westerns. When they went out of favour, he turned to crime and has been doing it pretty much ever since. I must have read just about every book he’s ever written and there are nearly 40 of them! His ear for dialogue is unmatched and for somebody in his 80’s, he’s so cool it’s incredible. Like, he’s gonna move in next door to you and your lawn will die!
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