Caroline Lawrence Interview Oct 2004

Oct 2004

Jenny interviews Caroline Lawrence! (You can also see this interview HERE)

In the summer of 2004, 10-year-old Jenny from Derbyshire won a competition in Young Archaeologist Club Magazine to meet and interview Caroline at Chedworth Roman villa in Gloucestershire. Here is the interview, with thanks to YAC.

Caroline & Jenny (photo © Larissa Worthington/YAC)

Jenny's questions in green
Caroline's answers in black

1. When did you first realise you wanted to be a writer?
I thought about it off and on but decided about ten years ago that I if I didn't do it then, I would never do it. I was a teacher then, so I used to get up early and write before school. At first I didn't know what to write about, but I just knew I wanted to be a writer!

2. When you wrote your first book did you think you would become famous?
When I wrote my first book, it was just such a brilliant idea that I knew that if I could pull it off it would be really popular. I always thought it would be nice for my books to be famous but not me, so I could still walk round London and no one would recognise me. But I don't care about being famous. I just want to be a writer.

3. Did you like history at school?
No, I didn't like history at all and I only got interested in history when I was 18 years old. When I was 18 I had a gap year. I was working in Switzerland as a chalet maid and I had nothing to do. I didn't have enough money to go skiing or anything and I didn't speak the language. While I was there my mother sent me two books that changed my life - The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault, an historical novel set in Ancient Greece, and Homer's Iliad. Those two books made me fall in love with Ancient Greece, and when I then went to University I signed up for Ancient Greek at Berkeley in California. Then I took Latin and started getting interested in the Romans too. So until I read those books I was never interested in history. That's what I hope my books will do, get children who are not really interested in history thinking, 'wow, it would be really cool to live in Roman times' and encourage them to learn more about the past.

4. What made you think of writing about children in Roman times?
I used to love Nancy Drew mystery stories when I was about your age. It was my sister's idea for me to write about children in Pompeii, but she claims not to remember it! Maybe it's just as well as she could ask for half of all my money!

5. When you wrote the first book, did you think you would be writing a whole series?
Yes, I did. As soon as my sister said to write about children in Ancient Rome, I thought about the Nancy Drew mysteries, which are a series. My original idea was to write the one set in Pompeii, The Secrets of Vesuvius, but I thought I'd write a book first to introduce the characters and then follow that with the Vesuvius mystery. I then wanted to write some other mysteries that tie in with real historical events, and so I ended up with a whole series!

6. Was there anything in particular that you had to research, e.g. food, Latin and Greek language?
Everything! I already knew Greek and Latin and Hebrew so that was good because it means I can go to primary sources, the original sources written in the language. But for each book, I've had to do a lot of research. For example, for The Gladiators from Capua, I emailed the biggest gladiator expert in the world. Her name is Kathleen Coleman. She's a professor at Havard University. I asked her to read a few paragraphs and she ended up reading the whole book and commenting on it. So I've dedicated that book to her. I do tons of research and on my website there's a page that has all the different topics and themes for the books.

7. How did you come up with the plan of Flavia and Jonathan's houses and gardens?
I went back to the classic model of a house from Pompeii, and then made bits up. I built their houses into the town wall so when Flavia goes out of her back door she leaves the whole town and goes into a dangerous place. We know they really did build their houses into the town walls in ancient Ostia.

8. Have you thought of writing a story where Flavia, Jonathan, Lupus and Nubia come to Britain?
My editor, Judith, said to me, you have to write a book in which the children come to Roman Britain. But I said no, it is too cold in Roman Britain! I like going to Italy and Greece and Egypt and Morocco to do my research! But Judith said that children and school teachers would love it, and so I agreed. The next to last book, book number 17, is going to be called The Legionary from Londonium in which our friends will come to Roman Britain in AD 81.

9. You obviously like Roman times but are there any other historical times you like? If so, would you write a book set in a different period?
I am interested in the Byzantine period, which is about AD 600, at the time when there was still a Roman Empire but it was a Christian Roman Empire and Christianity was not as we know it today. There were priests with long beards and when they disagreed with each other they would have fights and pull each other's beards, at the altar in the church! There were monks who would stand on the top of tall pillars for 30 years without coming down and they were so holy that people had only to touch the pillar to be cured. Others went out in the desert and lived in holes. I'm really interested in all that. I plan to write a trilogy, three books, about this period. A boy called Simeon will be the main character and he will have a monk mentor. Simeon is autistic and he can't really communicate but he sees visions.

10. How many more Roman Mysteries are there going to be?
I've written eight. There are going to be ten more if I don't get hit by a chariot and run down! All the Roman Mysteries take place in the two and a half years that Titus was Emperor, and he died under mysterious circumstances, aged only 42. So, the final mystery, The Man from Pomegranate Street, will investigate who killed him.

Jenny said: "It was really cool interviewing Caroline Lawrence. I thought she'd be really nice, but she's also really funny and very clever. She works really hard but she has a lovely life because she gets to visit loads of interesting places and watches lots of films too."

More Author Interviews

Aug 2001April 2002April 2004Nov 2001