Philip Caveney

Q: What were you like at school?

Difficult.

Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?

A writer.

Q: Which three words describe you best?

Driven, loyal, pessimistic.

Q: What is your favourite word?

Yes.

Q: What makes you cringe?

Pretentious behaviour.

Q: What are you afraid of?

Spiders.

Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?

Today.

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

My books.

Q: What do you do as a hobby?

I watch movies.

Q: What strange habits do you have?

I always say hello to magpies.

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Curry.

Q: What do you day dream about?

Directing a movie.

Q: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?

Convinced people that my work is worth publishing.

Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

Acting.

Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?

Younger.

Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

Max, from Sebastian Darke.

Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?

Loyalty.

Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?

My own imagination.

Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Don't give up.

Q: What would you most like to change about yourself?

My teeth.

Q: What has life taught you?

The best things happen by accident.

Q: How long have you been a writer?

Since the age of thirteen. I've been published since 1977.

Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?

Yes. When I read Ray Bradbury's wonderful story, Something Wicked This Way Comes, when I was thirteen years old.

Q: Where do you do your writing?

In my study - that's where I'm writing this.

Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?

You don't have a boss... but you don't get sick pay.

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

That's the question no author can ever answer.

Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?

Max, the grumpy buffalope from Sebastian Darke. He always assumes the worst is going to happen.

Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?

I've never had it, but if I did, I'd just try and write my way out of it.

Q: What was your favourite book as a child?

Something Wicked This Way Comes - it's still up there in my top 10.

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

Lord Of The Flies by William Golding.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Show don't tell... and never, never, never, NEVER give up!