Interview with Jack Barrow

Hello all you readers and writers!

Emma Michaels here to introduce our guest author of the day

Jack Barrow

Hello Jack and welcome to The Writers Voice!

 

Are the traits of anyone close to you apparent in your characters?

Very much so; Clint, Nigel and Wayne, and their friend Geoff in Blackpool are all real people, they do get up to the sorts of things described in the story, the only difference is that they don't necessarily save the universe at weekends. They do, however, go away at the weekends, practice magic, drink, and fall over.

If you could have any extraordinary gift or super power what would it be and why?

After Batman apparently handed a criminal over to the police recently there was an expert on Marvel super heroes being interviewed on Radio 4. He said that he would like to his super power to be able to finish projects on time and meet his deadlines. I don't like to use someone else's ideas without attributing them as best I can so I'd like that too.

What would you like for readers to take away from your novel/novels?

I'd like them to have a smile of their face but that feels just a little bit presumptuous. Writing comedy is seen as such a rare skill that, even now, I wonder if I've really got it.

Was there ever a moment when you wouldn’t trade what you do as an author for the world? What was that moment for you?

I get that moment every time a reader contacts me or writes a review, and I'm constantly surprised at the different things they say, no two are the same. You can keep all the lifestyle fantasies of writing; knowing that people are interested enough to give you their time and energy, that's the best thing in the world.

What’s your favorite way to procrastinate?

I usually find all sorts of important jobs that are part of my writing plans, just they are not the actual writing. Promotion is the biggest distraction, but it has to be done and as a result it's the perfect excuse not to write. I've just spent a little over three years creating a promotional video for The Hidden Masters and the Unspeakable Evil when I should really have been writing the second, third and fourth in the series.

Where do you do your best writing? Do you like to have certain surroundings?

I always write at home, in my tiny office which used to be a store cupboard. It's got no windows but I like that. I have an ambition to go hill walking with a tablet and really get going on the next novel writing beside my tent in the middle of nowhere. I don't know if that will work as the two situations couldn't be more different.

If you could live in one book for a day, what would it be?

The most fantastic place is the past so probably The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England. The book gives such a sense and flavor of the past that it doesn't seem that far removed from actually being there. I've got a vague ambition to write a fantasy novel set in medieval England amid genuine historical events. (Don't tell anybody I said this, it's still a secret.)

 

Thank you for stopping by

The Writers Voice!