RJ Barker is the award-winning fantasy author of The Wounded Kingdom trilogy and the Tide Child Trilogy. Ready Chapter 1 recently had the pleasure of interviewing RJ about his latest book and his writing process! Thank you so much for joining us.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your new novel, Gods of the Wyrdwood?
Yes. I’m RJ, people think it’s just for book covers but that’s what everyone calls me. I live with my family in the UK in a really old house full of very odd things: strange art, taxidermy, thousands of books and a lot of very noisy music.
Wyrdwood, as I like to call it, is my seventh published novel (or ninth if you count work done under a pen name) and the first in a new trilogy. It’s about people who got left behind and betrayed. Cahan, the main character was meant to be the chosen one, then one day he just wasn’t. Ever since he’s lived like a hermit and told himself that’s what makes him happy, which of course isn’t true though he can’t see that. Unfortunately for him, the world of Crua and its ancient forests don’t care what he wants, they have their own desires.
Will Gods of the Wyrdwood be a series? If so, how many books can we expect to follow?
Ha, already answered that. Yes, two more books to come. One a year.
What did your road to publishing look like when you were trying to get your first book out in the world?
Atypical. I write but I didn’t really do submissions, only the odd one. I always had the idea that most things in my life have happened by a succession of unlikely events and I ended up agented that way. An editor saw a short story on my blog, they asked me for something else, which they didn’t like but gave to one of their authors (The brilliant Stephen Deas) who passed it to his agent, who asked me if I had anything different, and I did. Then we took that to market but it didn’t sell. Then that agent downsized his list, including me, and suggested as an afterthought to a list I’d made, I try Ed Wilson at Johnson and Alcock, which I did, and he really liked it, and I liked him and he’s represented me ever since.
It’s not very useful for giving advice to other writers though, I wouldn’t suggest they try my model.
As a fantasy author, which storytelling element do you focus on first when starting a new book (ex. setting, characters, etc.)?
I usually have a very rough idea of setting, some general things, and an idea of a couple of characters and rough idea of what I want them to do. Then to sell a book you have to write a synopsis for your publisher so I have to know enough to do that, but it’s all very general. I discover most of what I’m writing about while I’m writing it.
Do you have any advice for budding fantasy writers trying to set their work apart from the rest?
Well, every single one of us is unique, so whatever you produce will be unique because it’s from you. I don’t feel like I can tell anyone how to do something because writing is so personal. The best thing I was ever told was what works for you is what works. So maybe find what interests you and absolutely commit to it.
Also, a good idea to read out of the genre you write in, just read as much as possible because the wider your influences then the more interesting your writing will be. If all you read is Lord of the Rings, then all you’ll ever produce is things that are a lot like Lord of the Rings, so the breadth of your reading will extend the breadth of your writing.
Do you have a worldbuilding method you’ve followed for each of your series? Or does it change each time?
I make stuff up. That’s it.
People can get really hung up on worldbuilding, to the point it gets in the way of writing. I start with a few interesting ideas and then spin them out as I write, see where it leads me. I’d say worldbuilding is secondary (by a long way) to ensuring your characters exist in that world. The world doesn’t have to make sense, as long as the characters act as if that’s normal for them. It’s their world. You can easily spend forever building a world, but what people are often doing is building a scaffold that gives them the confidence to sit and write (same with research) and that’s fine, do what you need to do to get into the seat; but don’t forget that the best way to build confidence in your writing is to write.
Can you provide links to any websites or social channels you’d like readers to follow?
On Twitter I’m @Dedbutdrmng. My website is www.rjbarker.co.uk
