Interviewing RJ Barker
Hello!
A little while ago I reviewed Call of the Bone Ships by RJ Barker which was an excellent instalment in the high seas fantasy series The Tide Child. I was very lucky to be able to ask RJ some questions on the book and what lies in store for future reading!
Was the second book always designed to be very different from the first volume?
Well, there’s only ever a vague idea really but I found with the previous books that the second book is quite freeing. First book you have to set everything up. Third book you have to tie together all the ideas you’ve put into play. But the second book is a lot more, I dunno, freeform, maybe? Also, I kind of, partway through thought I may have written a load of stuff no one wanted to read and I had to find a way to reengage with the book and not simply be doing, what I felt, was the same sort of thing I’d already done.
And I like to play, as well. It’s in my nature and I think, though it’s a serious book with big stuff going on, parts of it are very playful. That dropping out of the main voice and into the heads of characters, just for a bit, was really joyful to do and it let me examine the world from a different side. But it also let me escape the main narrative at a point when I think I needed to get away from it.
One of the things I love is how you do pacing – building tension or making scenes race through – is this something you enjoy creating in your writing as it makes a very involved reading experience.
I always think of a book as a series of waves, each one higher than the last but you have to have a trough between each one, for everything to settle and for the reader to take a breath. I know there are writers that do action! Action! Action! But that’s not for me, I’m probably too old, I get tired quick. But although it’s great fun to write a big action piece and it’s exciting I think I’m really more interested in the effect it has on people so I need time for those effects to show. I’m also a huge fan of the crime writer James Lee Burke who writes books where the pressure just keeps building and building and I think that feeds into what I do. Though I’m no James Lee Burke. Maybe one day if I keep trying.
Redemption is something you love to explore in your novels what calls you this theme?
I think the need for redemption is very much part of us and that forgiveness is hugely important. We all do stupid things and make mistakes, it’s part of growing up. The important thing is that we learn from those mistakes, and allow other people to grow and learn. I think I write books that, despite being quite dark and hard, are quite generous to people.
In three words what can we expect for the final adventure?
More bigger dragons.
While in lockdown I noticed you’ve started Writeopolis – what is that?
Oh, it’s huge fun. Every other Sunday I join another writer, Kit Power, and we do what’s basically a live radio show through discord. We have loads of different types of guests, authors, editors, agents and while we talk people can join in through text chat and we ask their questions too. We’re just in the process of turning it into a podcast as well so people who can’t make the live show can join in. It’s mostly funny, and sometimes people can even learn stuff.
What’s next for you and where can we find out more from you?
Twitter (@dedbutdrmng) is probably the best way to follow me. Or you can sign up for my mailing list, which I almost never send out so it won’t be an annoyance, through my website www.rjbarker.co.uk. As to next, I’m playing with an idea that I think of as ‘Robin Hood with squid’. Which I know sounds a bit odd but I think it works. Orbit (my publisher) are definitely excited about it.
While in lockdown last year was there any book you read you think everyone else should read?
I’ve been really struggling with reading over lockdown to be honest. But I absolutely loved A Private Cathedral by James Lee Burke which is a mixture of hard boiled crime and the supernatural. Which makes it sound like urban fantasy which is definitely isn’t.
