Interview
with Caroline Lawrence
by Sandra
Garside-Neville
(first published in 'The Historical Novel Review' September
2004)
right:
Caroline Lawrence with fan (photo S. Garside-Neville)
Caroline Lawrence is the author of The Roman Mysteries, an exciting series
of children’s books set in the Roman Empire during the 1st century. I
first saw Caroline at a Roman Festival in York last year, where she gave one
of her excellent talks, using replica Roman artefacts and wore Roman clothes
to help illustrate her fascination with the period. She gave me the teaching
notes formulated for use with her books, which detailed the main themes of
the stories. When I read her books, I was impressed with the amount
of detail seamlessly blended into the story, and her sure-footed approach
to portraying the tough realities of Roman life. Caroline has planned eighteen
books for the series, and eight have been published so far.
Please tell us something of your background and childhood
I was born in London, England; but I'm American and grew up in California
(Bakersfield and Stanford.) I’ve lived in England since I came
from California to go to Cambridge and study Classical Art and Archaeology,
staying on to do an MA in Hebrew and Jewish Studies at UCL. From there I went
on to teach Latin, French and art at a primary school. I've wanted to be a
writer off and on throughout my life, but about fifteen years ago I really
determined to do it. This meant reading lots of books on writing and getting
up early to put in an hour of writing a day before I went to work as a teacher.
Were there any particular novels or non-fiction books
as a child that sparked or developed your interest in history and in the Roman
period?
I spent most of my teens trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life
and what I was good at. After several false starts - during my gap year at
the age of 18 - I read Homer's Iliad, in translation, and The
Last of the Wine
by Mary Renault. I was so inspired by these two books that when I arrived
at the University of California Berkeley I immediately signed up for Greek
and Latin. I loved them. I often say that The
Last of the Wine changed my life.
Why did you choose to write children’s fiction
in particular?
One reason I chose to write children's fiction is that when I taught Latin
at primary school (to children aged 9-12) I noticed that although there were
many excellent courses, (eg the Cambridge Latin course, Minimus, So You Really
Want to Learn Latin, etc) and great reference books (eg Horrid Histories,
Dorling Kindersley, etc) there were no historical novels for kids that would
transport them to the ancient world and captivate them as Mary Renault had
done for me. Rosemary Sutcliff and Geoffrey Trease just didn't appeal to the
kids I taught. One of the best ways of getting people interested in a subject
is through STORY.
But the main reason I write children's fiction is that I love it.
Why did you choose to write about the Roman period,
and the early Empire in particular?
The catalyst for the creation of the whole series was a casual suggestion
by my sister five years ago: 'Why don't you write a book for kids set in Pompeii?'
Immediately I had the idea of a detective series like Nancy
Drew or Famous Five. Nobody to my knowledge had ever done anything
like that. And Pompeii would be a brilliant setting because of the eruption
of Vesuvius on August 24 AD 79. That put me at the beginning of the reign
of Titus. His two-year reign is a fascinating period, filled with other historical
events such as a plague and fire in Rome in the winter of AD 80, the opening
of the Colosseum that spring, and his mysterious death a mere two years after
his accession. (The 18 books take place about a month apart and the last book
will be about Titus's mysterious sudden illness and death)
Many of the themes you write about are quite brutal
(for example, one of the children has had his tongue cut out) which lends
the tales a very realistic feel. Do you ever get complaints about this
from either adults or children?
Often the most memorable facts about history are the gruesome or disgusting
ones, as the success of the Horrid Histories shows. Boys in particular love
this kind of detail and one of my aims is to get boys hooked on the Classics.
I do warn children not to read the books last thing at night before bed, but
this makes many of them even more determined to read them.
I
have received a handful of complaints from adults about the killing of dogs
or other animals, but only one about the killing of humans. That was from
one of my foreign publishers. They objected to the casual way a Roman aristocrat
refers to the death of one of his slaves (which occurs 'offstage'.) I have
received no complaints from children.
You use modern slang like 'OK' in your novels. Why is
this?
I made a decision early on not to try to archaize the language, but to make
it as 'transparent' as I could, ie neither old fashioned or trendy. I don't
actually consider OK to be slang; it's been in use for 50 years. Its Latin
equivalent would have been something like 'bene' or 'placet mihi', depending
on context. Perhaps it jars more for English readers than for American ones.
In your notes
for teachers you point out that each book explores several themes.
Do you write the novels with these themes in mind, or do they emerge as you
write?
I choose one theme per book very early in the planning stage. I then use Greek
myths and subplots to reinforce the theme. I also choose a Roman topic for
each book, (eg 'medicine' in The
Enemies of Jupiter) but this topic does not necessarily tie in
with the theme (eg 'hubris' in The
Enemies of Jupiter)
Are your books selling abroad?
Although rights have been bought for at least 12 countries the first books
are only now being published. So it's very early days. Having said that, I've
been invited to Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Austria and Italy to promote
the books.
Is there a difference between writing historical fiction
for children and for adults?
The only difference (in my opinion) is that children's books must have more
adventure and less sex.
Will any of your books follow Flavia Gemina and her
friends past their childhood?
Yes, the last book will probably start and finish with a 'flash-forward' to
the four in their mid twenties.
When writing a novel, do you begin with characters or
plot?
I start with an historical incident, eg the opening of the Colosseum, or an
action, eg Jonathan's search for his mother. Then I choose which of the four
friends will be the main character. Then comes (in roughly this order) the
title, the plot framework, the theme, the myth, Roman topical facts and religious
festivals. Then I write a chapter outline and synopsis. Then and only then
do I allow myself to start writing.
Do you plan your novels to the end before you start
writing?
Yes, but I might not end up where I thought I would. My structure is like
a road map. Once I start writing my creative 'right-brain' kicks in, so the
story can and often does change substantially. But I have enough of a plan
to keep me from going off track.
Do you do most of your research before you start writing
or as needed during the writing? What are your favourite resources?
I do research before and during and after. You can see some of my favourite
resource books on my website. One of my favourite resources of all is travel.
I've been to all the sites of my books in the proper season to gather detail
about flora, fauna, cuisine, the look of the sky, the smell of the air, the
temperament of the people. This is one of the wonderful perks of the job.
Will you write adult historical fiction one day?
Probably not. I'm writing exactly what I want to be writing. In fact, when
I was invited to contribute a story to The
Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits, edited by Mike Ashley, I toyed
with the idea of using an adult character from the Roman Mysteries. But I
just couldn't do it. So I wrote Bread and Circuses in which Flavia, Jonathan,
Nubia and Lupus solve a mystery which takes them around the granaries and
bakeries of Ostia.
Was it difficult to find a publisher?
Not really. The Thieves of Ostia was the first book I'd written that I felt
was ready to be submitted. I sent it - along with five short ideas for subsequent
books in the series - to my husband's agent, and she sold the first six books
to Orion within a few months.
You frequently do school talks. How do you approach
these?
I usually do them in costume with loads of humour and enthusiasm. Even if
the children don't read my books they will never forget what the Romans used
a sponge-stick for!
Do you read historical fiction for pleasure? If so,
which novels have you enjoyed recently? Do you have any favourite authors?
I mainly read primary sources in the Loeb translations (Latin or Greek on
one side, English on the other) so that I can read quickly but check out the
original if I need to. But I do try to keep up with children's books and Roman
historical fiction, as well. My favourite authors of historical fiction are
Mary
Renault, Stephen
Saylor and the sublime Patrick
O'Brian.
Tell us about your next novel and any future writing
plans
The book I'm working on now is book 9, The
Colossus of Rhodes. It will be quite different from The
Enemies of Jupiter (quite dark) and The
Gladiators from Capua (quite violent). It will be more of a straight
mystery story. I try to give each book a different flavour: some are fun,
some tragic, some romantic, some exciting. Most of all, I try to keep the
reader guessing about what will happen.
©
Sandra
Garside-Neville 2004 photo and article
Historical
Novel Society
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