The Big Primary Times Interview

Peter Watson from Primary Times meets Derek Landy, author of the Skulduggery Pleasant series.

 Before I met Derek Landy, I was a bit nervous about what the creator of Skulduggery Pleasant and the former script writer for horror films would be like. When we got there, I discovered a really pleasant man surrounded by his cats (more about the cats later).   We started with a few facts about Derek. He’s Irish and lives just outside Dublin.    Before Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek wrote the screenplays for a zombie movie and a murderous horror film. "I think my career-guidance teacher is spinning in her grave," he says, "or she would be if she were dead." The stories about working on his parents’ farm picking cabbages are true but only between writing jobs. Derek has not only won the Red House Children’s Book Award but he has also won 13 regional awards (I had to worm this information out of his publishers as Derek Landy turns out to be rather a modest guy).

In the office, we’re big Skulduggery fans so I went on by asking how he came up with the character in the first place. Derek was in London trying to raise funds for a new film when, whilst sitting in his hotel room, the name suddenly came into his mind and almost immediately he saw what the character looked like and the sort of person (or skeleton) he was. Derek described it as an “amazing accident”.   We’re not so sure we believe in accidents and we know a skeletal detective who certainly doesn’t!

I asked Derek where the character Stephanie, otherwise known as Valkerie, came from and why he’d chosen to give Skulduggery a girl rather than a boy as a sidekick. The received wisdom in publishing is that, if you write about a boy both girls and boys will read it but boys will only read stories about boys. Going back to that hotel room, Derek tried out some dialogue for Skulduggery who turned out to be talking to a twelve year old girl sidekick. Derek did say that he felt if the assistant had turned out to be a boy the relationship wouldn’t have been the same and that with a boy Skulduggery might have been more of a father figure and he just didn’t see him as that. As he wrote up the Valkerie character, she turned out to be based on a girl of that age who he used to train in martial arts. She’s now an adult (and just as feisty) and still a friend. We didn’t talk names but I’m sure she knows who she is. Derek has done quite a lot of martial arts training in the past, both of young people and adults. That would explain why the fight scenes are so good then.  Asking around, both girls and boys seem to like the Skulduggery Pleasant books. They’re just good books.  Indeed, adults who can get past the description “children’s fiction” tend to enjoy them too.

So where to next?  Derek has plans for the Skulduggery series to run to nine titles which is great news for fans. He’s reckoning to work on other projects in between but so far he’s enjoyed writing Skulduggery so much that he’s done three on the bounce. The latest book, “The Faceless Ones” is due out in hardback on 6 April priced at £12.99.   I’ve had a sneak peak and I can tell you it’s another great story though I had to promise not to give any secrets away.  

On the horizon is a film of the first book. Warner Brothers have taken an option on the title and engaged Derek to write the script. As someone who’s worked on (relatively) low budget movies, he’s seriously excited about the whole Hollywood thing and having a great time. It’s quite early in the process so no dates yet but do keep a look out.

Back to those cats. I was a bit surprised as I’d always heard that Derek had a dog.   Turns out when he left his parents’ farm and bought his own cottage, a cat arrived and decided it was her home (it seems that Derek, a dog person, was under the mistaken impression that you chose a cat rather than the other way round). Not long after she produced kittens and at one time there were nine cats and kittens in the cottage. Some have now found good homes but Derek still has five at home.  The dog has had to stay at the farm but Derek still goes over at least once a day and often more to pet her and take her for walks.