It’s time to meet another debut author…
Tell us a little about your book and how you came to write it.
It’s called Bobby Denise is Reigning Rampant, and it’s about a retired and disgraced Vegas stage magician who’s in love with his performing white tiger. He’s also a convicted and rehabilitated murderer. He tries to avoid showbusiness now that he’s 78 years old, but inevitably he can’t not make himself a spectacle. He does a lot of bad stuff in quite a short space of time.
I came to write it because I’d built up a bank of showbiz anecdotes after working in the entertainment industry for a number of years. I wanted to write something about this bizarre and extreme showbusiness figure, sort of like my version of Rupert Pupkin but arguably worse, more damaged, more talented, with more to lose.
What makes your book unique?
It was crowdfunded into existence. There’s a good bit with a performing eagle called Karen.
Your book will soon be in readers’ hands. Which part of being published are you most excited about?
I think just that: people will soon have it. It will always at least be interesting to hear what people think of it when they’ve read it. Some people who are reading it have been texting me telling me they enjoyed it, which is a nice feeling.
Besides that, I think generally we underestimate what it is to contribute a thing to a life, like a book or a song or a vegetarian burrito recipe or a novelty door knocker or whatever nice thing it is you can contribute. Even if no-one really uses it, it’s a thing that exists because you wanted it to.
What has been the most challenging part of your journey to publication?
Ignoring the suspicion that it is, in fact, quite a bad novel. I know in my heart that it’s not bad, or at least I’m happy with it anyway. But so many times while crowdfunding and even now it’s published I’d go through periods of finding myself unable to explain why anyone should read my book over another. The fact that it was crowdfunded rather than published traditionally weighed heavy on my mind too, to be completely honest. It was as if getting rejected by very sensible and reputable and well-read agents with decades of experience wasn’t a good enough reason for me to accept defeat and move on to another project. I mean, how arrogant. There’s a flipside to that argument, which is that crowdfunding allows genuinely niche and marginal and interesting projects to reach fruition, which I cling to quite tightly.
If Bobby goes on to sell 100,000 copies then I will of course be demanding you remove this interview and commence telling everyone that I always had faith in my novel.
Do you have a writing mentor, or someone who has influenced your work?
There are plenty of authors who have influenced my work, and more people still that have influenced it without having written a word of fiction. The company you keep ends up informing everything you write, I suppose.
I’ve never had a writing mentor, or any kind of writing community around me. To my shame, I just can’t do it: I can’t share my work like that. And that’s not me trying to tacitly imply haughtiness or that I’m somehow above the criticism of others, it’s purely down to me and my extreme unwillingness to graciously receive the opinions of others. Sometimes I’m a pontificating music journalist for money, so I know this is a ridiculous assertion from someone who is literally paid to give opinions.
I was speaking to someone the other night at an event I was doing for my book, and he’s part of a little circle of writers that keep each other going and give each other feedback, which sounds really lovely. It really works for him to have that collegiate contribution and support. Not sure I could do it though.
If there was one book that you could have written, other than your own, what would it be and why?
Oh loads. The Sea, The Sea (which I only read a few months ago, actually), Wise Children, basically any sentence by Michael Chabon.
What advice would you give to other writers hoping to publish a novel?
You should fight for your work, but also accept that your current project might not be ‘the one’. That’s all very well for me to say seeing as I basically ignored all good advice and agent rejections and ploughed ahead in publishing my first novel via non-traditional means, so what do I know about it. I still think you should fight for your work though, if it’s good enough: just make sure you’ve successfully defeated all arguments to the contrary.
Is there a debut novel you’re particularly looking forward to reading in 2019?
Muscle, by Alan Trotter. Looks like a belter.
Find out more
Bobby Denise is Reigning Rampant is out now, find it on on Goodreads, Amazon and Waterstones
About the author
Daniel Ross is a music journalist and author. Until October 2018, I was the Digital Managing Editor for Classic FM and Smooth Radio. He recently moved to Bristol to open an independent book shop, Storysmith.