Ruby Barnes, author of Peril, dedicates his writing to the memory of his grandfather, the late Robert ‘Ruby’ Barnes. In addition to his writing, he also maintains a blog. Ruby has that unique talent for creating characters the reader both loves and hates, and simultaneously roots for and against. From the shipyards of Port Glasgow to the industrial heartland of Southern England, through the fractured reaches of mountainous North Wales and across Scotland ‘s bottomless lochs, Ruby has traveled and found inspiration for the misfits, rogues and psychopaths that haunt his writing. He is now based in sometimes sunny Kilkenny, Ireland. I was fortunate that Ruby graciously took time from his busy schedule to grant me the interview that follows:
Can you identify a moment when you knew you wanted to be a writer? What was that moment like?
That moment was when, as a teenager, my English teacher accused me of plagiarism over a poem I had written comparing an ancient tower with a mountainside, two sentinels observing time passing by. My parents also disbelieved that it was my own work. It was a moment of incredulity and elation. Then I was heavily marked down for suspected copying.
Did anyone encourage you in your writing? Did that encouragement make a difference?
Despite the moment I mentioned above, I went for a ‘long walk’ before trying to write fiction. Twenty years, in fact, during which I worked in marketing and studied business. My tutors would probably say that my assignments and theses were fiction. When the time was right, I applied myself to the novel form and my wife has been an unerring support. The kids think it’s super-cool to have a writer as a dad and those doubting parents in Scotland are also enormously encouraging.
Do you have a “day job” in addition to your career as an author?
I do. Currently I work in performance management of public sector health systems. Previous jobs include being an international marketer of partial discharge equipment and a global service manager for excitation systems. All very dreary, but at least it sounds ridiculous.
Describe the self-discipline required to write a book. Do you have any writing rituals?
I like to listen to music whilst writing. For four years I commuted by train and had up to three hours a day to write, edit, review and snooze. Being partially deaf, I can easily isolate myself from ambient noise. Then the job changed location and I had to find a new discipline. These days I mostly write at night when the family is asleep or else I get up early and write for an hour and a half before the family wakes.
My writing ritual is at the end of the writing session. I let my mind wander as I go to sleep or when I shower, allowing my subconscious to supply the outline of the next chapter, to solve a plot challenge or to help a character murder a victim.
How would you describe your writing style?
Irreverent, intuitive, dark and exploratory.
Give a short summary of Peril. How did you come up with the idea for the story?
Peril is the story of an anti-hero who makes all the wrong decisions, going with the flow in a downward spiral that sucks friends and family into his whirlpool of doom. It’s a morality tale, wrapped up as a crime thriller.
The pivotal event at the start of the book is loosely based upon reality – murder of down-and-outs and the escapades of organized begging gangs in Dublin. I had the idea to cross the divide between the under-belly of society and the safe, complacent life of city workers.
Tell us about works in progress. Do you have another book or two (or three) in the making that readers can look forward to?
I have a macabre thriller titled The Baptist that is in the beta reader stage. It’s darker than Peril but retains vestiges of humour. Research and planning for the sequel toThe Baptist is in progress.
You are a crime author. Do you think you will stick with that genre or explore other areas of writing?
The Baptist is moving away from crime in the direction of horror and I have a firm idea in that vein for the next book in the series. I also have a couple of old manuscripts that are action adventure and I might rework those, perhaps publish them under another name.
What considerations went into your decision to become an indie author?
I know that readers enjoy Peril, despite its genre-bending proposition. The same book, under a different title, couldn’t find a home with agents or publishers. My decision to publish Peril as an independent e-book means that hundreds of people around the world now have my writing in their hands and the work has elicited a good number of positive reviews. Without taking Peril independently to Amazon and Smashwords, I would still be struggling with recognition and worrying myself stupid over the chances of The Baptist getting picked up by the traditional route. This doesn’t mean that I reject the traditional route but I can’t let good work fester under the bed with my earlier manuscripts. Life is too short not to go indie in the e-revolution.
Are there any authors whose work has influenced you or whose style you particularly admire?
John Irving, Colin Bateman, Patrick McGrath and Leon Uris are some names that have impressed their writing upon my memory. I have a very broad taste in literature but I’m always looking for thrills, chills and ideally a touch of dark humour in my reading and my writing.
Do you have any encouragement or advice for aspiring writers?
Give yourself time and space to write that great book you have in your heart. Let it flow out of you. Don’t hesitate, don’t get mired down in research, get it down on paper / computer. Then put it aside, to come back to later. It’s probably quite bad writing. Most authors have to commit several early novels to that dusty place under the bed before they hit their stride.
If you don’t have a writing background, get some learning. Surround yourself with like-minded, supportive people. Preferably face-to-face, otherwise online. Write more, learn, write more. Use your time wisely e.g. shower-time is formulate-the-next-chapter time. When you’ve found your voice you’ll have to go solo, moving away from the peer review group. Trust your voice, be true to it and the novel ideas will flow from your imagination, through your fingers, onto the page and out to your readers.