Your book is one in a series where the Doctor and other characters from the show crossover into other well-known fictional worlds. Were you involved with the planning of the overall concept?
I first became aware of this series when Jac Rayner’s books appeared for pre-order: Oz and Camelot. I loved the idea straight away. As a Puffin reader and a Dr Who reader all my life – the idea of these worlds colliding was irresistible to me. As I’ve said many times, in different ways – to me, Dr Who was always a very bookish series. From the WH Allen hardbacks in our tiny town library, to the perplexing Annuals on Boxing Day… to the Virgin books in the heady days of the 1990s… Dr Who was most often about the books for me… and I loved it when you could see the readerly roots of these stories. Maybe it was because I grew up with 70s Who and the way those stories took their leads from Gothic and Sci-fi classics? To me the best Dr Who was always a mash-up and the TARDIS was always a kind of travelling library.
In projects like this, do the authors have to share their general story ideas with each other to ensure no two accidentally repeat a similar plot line or denouement?
I had space to develop my own story… though once I chose Robin Hood there had to be all kinds of complications… in that it had to be both a sequel and a prequel to ‘Robot of Sherwood’… and then I wanted to bring in Richard the Lionheart, so it was also a sequel to ‘The Crusaders’ novel, too… And of course I’d read Jac’s two books, so I knew I wasn’t going to tread on any of her storylines.
Were you specifically offered the Robin Hood commission or was that the one you were drawn to?
I gave a list of Puffin Classics that I would love to write, and Robin Hood was at the top. I love the mid twentieth century versions written by Roger Lancelyn Green and Rosemary Sutcliff, and various others. I love the fact that the legend is never static, from one iteration to the next. There are repeated motifs and plot beats and characters… but there is no exact canon, when it comes to Robin Hood.
Also, there is so much of the cycle of legends that doesn’t get told. The later bits, when Robin and the Merry Men are middle aged and a bit jaded and cheesed off. You never hear about that so much. Then there was the figure of Mother Maudlin, who is to be found in the Lancelyn Green retelling… and who simply cried out to become a Dr Who villain.
Did you have the choice of which Doctor and companion(s) crossed into the world of Robin Hood?
I think my lovely editor Tom suggested that the Fourth Doctor would be a good fit and – what with the Nest Cottage Chronicles and all – he feels like my favourite Doctor to write. As for Sarah and Harry… I always thought that they should have been together as a family for a little longer. They were a brilliant team and I loved writing both a possessed Sarah and an overly-enthusiastic Harry. One of my favourite things in this whole novel is the Doctor and Sarah’s dismay when they find that Harry has taught the Merry Men to sing the theme tune from the Richard Greene Robin Hood TV show. It’s so exactly what Harry would do and it still makes me laugh.
Its interesting to imagine, not so much how other Doctors, but how other sets of companions would have behaved differently than Sarah Jane and Harry do. For me that’s what makes it such a perfect and lovely story. Had you considered the 4th Doctor but with other companions or did it always have to be this team to make it work properly?
My only other thought would have been Romana and K9, perhaps. But perhaps they’re best saving up for the story set at the end of the legend, when Robin becomes a pirate and is finally defeated by evil nuns in Scarborough. That tale is yet to be told!
What is your writing process for a book like this, distinct from your own original novels and other commissions?
It’s more or less the same! A long synopsis, outlining nearly everything that will happen, getting that through a number of drafts and then getting it okayed by everyone. A writing of a first draft that takes about three months with me writing a very precise number of words every day… and then loads and loads of edit notes from both the publisher and the BBC. There are more editorial eyes on these things than most others, perhaps – because you’re writing for someone else’s universe. (During the writing itself, it never feels like someone else’s universe. It feels like it’s wholly mine, when I’m writing it. It has to feel like this story will never get told in just this way, unless I do it my way.)
Do you plot out full scene breakdowns in advance or just aim confidently towards a series of key scenes.
As I go on (and it’s almost thirty years doing this stuff now) I outline in more and more detail. It just takes the sting out of things. Having said that, there were wild, improvised flights of fancy involved in Robin Hood. The scene in which Mother Maudlin flies all around the world, dragging the Doctor with her by his scarf… and the Doctor unveiling his music room… these were all moments that came to spontaneous life in the writing itself. You have to leave yourself leeway to create new moments, even when sticking to the strictest of outlines.
Was there anything you wanted to include but the word count forbade it; Anything on the cutting room floor?
Not this time! Often there are scenes lopped out or chapters pruned… but here I was quite economical and everything is in there! I do think these 50k books are the right length for Dr Who stories. The old 80k word novels always seemed slightly too long.
When did the Carrionite enter into the planning? Was it an active idea from the start to have additional elements of modern Who in the book or was it just too perfect a fit to pass on?
From my editor, in the first round of edits, if I remember. It was another nice little tie-in to another old story.
I was more than happy with their one tv appearance but now I want to imagine them lurking in the background of other stories like The Robot of Sherwood, The Kings Demon, The Visitation or The Awakening. Any desire to champion the species to even greater notoriety?
What I like about them is that they belong to this idea of the Dark Times… a kind of pre-Time Lord universe in Dr Who, which is all monsters, creepy and grim. We’ve had mention of vampires, giant spiders and these witchy beings. I love that there is a Gothic universe that the Time Lords try to tidy up. To me, that’s a whole ragbag of lore and potential story telling. If I were to start up spin-off or tie-in line I would set it right there… ‘The Dark Times.’ It’s Patrick Troughton’s voice going all spooky in ‘The Five Doctors’, explaining to the Brigadier what Rassillon’s time must have been like. Yes, I’d make it all about witches, the Sisterhood of Karn and the vampire lords.
Has writing this story given you a taste to revisit this particular Tardis team again in the future and do you have any clear idea of other stories you might like to tell?
I’m not sure! I love them and would love to see more of them. But I’m thinking that it’s probably time that I gave up on writing this Who stuff. I’ve got plenty of my own things to write.
What is your favourite other version of Robin Hood and why?
I love ‘Robin of Sherwood’ because it was when I was a kid and it’s as full of nostalgia for me as Dr Who is. There was magic in that show. And I love Richard Greene, and Sean Connery in ‘The Lion in Winter’, and the episode in ‘Time Bandits’, of course. In terms of books, it’s Lancelyn Greene and Rosemary Sutcliff. Here’s the thing – I’d consider it a triumph if my book made readers want to go and read those books by those two wonderful writers, and read their other books, too – which are all warriors and knights, myths and monsters.
I'm guessing the choices of which other fictional characters the Doctor could meet in this series were based around what is in the public domain. If that wasn’t a factor, which other fictional world do you think would make a fun crossover?
I have many, many ideas about this. Endless ones. But I probably ought to stop.
For my money I think you have written Harry Sullivan’s finest hour. He’s not the least bit bumbling or foolish. He’s brave, courageous and he could have even got the girl at the end if he wasn’t so much of a gentleman. Was this just the way the plotting lead him or something you deliberately aimed to achieve?
I needed to write him exactly as I saw him. He was an absolute legend – and Doctor Who knew it, even when he called him an imbecile.
What is the most enjoyable part for you; The planning, the writing, or having the positive feedback from the readers once it’s out there?
The having finished. The moment when everything is absolutely finished.
What are you working on now that we should look out for in the future?
I have a new book of drawings out this year – my third from Harper Collins – it’s called ‘Puss in Books’, and it’s a celebration of cats. In August Puffin will be publishing another literary mash-up by me, ‘Josephine and the Argonauts’… in which the Third Doctor and Jo Grant are dragged away from UNIT HQ, falling into the amazing MythoScope, where all the Greek legends are being endlessly played out. They gather together the crew of the Argo and go in search of the Golden Fleece, in an adventure that features as many gods, goddesses and monsters as I could fit into it.
And finally; What question should I have asked you or what do you never get asked that you would like to say now?
Why do I have the Doctor referred to in this book – two or three times – as ‘Doctor Who’? A few people have remarked on it. I love it and, to me, that’s his name. It’s his name especially in the cultural products and tie-in merchandise of the mid-70s. He was ‘Doctor Who’ in the Annuals of the time, and in the Target books of the time and the Weetabix collectible cards of the time… and that’s why he’s still ‘Doctor Who’ to me.
Well that was enormousness fun and absolutely above and beyond what I had hoped for. I obviously want to extend a massive thank you to Paul for sharing his time, his thoughts and the personal photos. There are a lot of books and audios out there with his name on the front so if you never have had the pleasure before, then its certainly way past time that you did.
Steve
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