Interview with Alex Barclay

Author of the bestselling DARKHOUSE (Gateway's Crime Book of the Year!)

G: Hi Alex. Thanks for agreeing to be interviewed for Gateway. It seems ages since I read DARKHOUSE, and THE CALLER is rumoured to be out next Spring – how long did it take you to write the second novel, assuming press reports that it took you eight months to write DARKHOUSE are correct?

AB: Thank you. It’s a pleasure. What a wonderful site Gateway is. And I’m honoured that you’ve chosen Darkhouse as Crime Book of The Year. It seems ages since I wrote DARKHOUSE! It was over the course of a year, really – two months for the first three chapters, a little break, then eight months for the rest. The Caller – out in April ’07– took probably the same amount of time to write, but spread out over a longer period of time. I was so busy with Darkhouse coming out.

G: Have you always wanted to be a writer? Were you good at creative writing whilst you were at school? Was there any other career you considered first?

AB: Being a writer was not the sort of thing I thought about when I was young. Yes, I was one of those kids who did well in school at creative writing and I loved it, but I didn’t analyse it too much. I was very lucky with my English teachers – they weren’t rigid, they were always up for an unusual approach to an essay. After school, I did a journalism degree. But up until then, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer…

G: How well do you plan your novels? Do you just start writing and let it flow, or do you plan everything meticulously, with notebooks, references to characters and places for continuity purposes?

AB: I am a freak. I have colour co-ordinated (based on character/plot/both) timelines where I list under chapter numbers, a brief synopsis of every scene. I scotch-tape them together and handwrite any adjustments, then re-type them and print them out again so that they look perfect. It’s a full-time job in itself… But the timelines never dictate what I’m going to write. It’s actually the other way around. I write whatever scene I feel like at the time, then I slot it into the timeline. I also have notebooks: specific brand, specific squared paper, specific coloured pens, etc. And I (over)use Stickies on my Mac. But no matter how anal you are, you will still have continuity problems. In both books, before they’ve gone to print, I’ve had people standing up to leave the room when they’re never even sat down in the first place.

G: It would be naïve of me to ask if any of the characters in DARKHOUSE are based on people you know – so many authors tell me it’s inevitable that friends and family somehow find their way into a part of a character, if not all of it. Is that they way it is for you? Have you ever deliberately written a character around a friend or a family member?

AB: No, because I don’t think that’s right. I couldn’t relax if I did. I’d be out at dinner thinking ‘Do they know I based my serial killer on them?’ Also, I’d like the people I care about to be chilled out around me, not worrying I’m going to rip off their lives. Having said that, because human nature is what it is, personality traits in certain characters are bound to crop up in any given group of people.

G: If someone asked you to put them into your next novel, would you do it?

AB: Only if I could kill them in the first scene.

G: Any news of TV or movie interest in DARKHOUSE? It’s crying out to be filmed – who would you cast as Joe Lucchesi if you had the opportunity?

AB: Thank you. Yes, there has been movie interest, which is a huge compliment, especially when you see some of the movies the production companies have made. Then you put it all out of your mind, because these things take so long to come to fruition. And I genuinely can’t think of an actor to play Joe Lucchesi.

G: How well have you adapted to writing stardom? This last year must have been incredibly hectic for you, with tours, lunches, book signings and so on. How on earth did you find the time to write another full-length novel while all the publicity was going on?

AB: Maybe it’s gutterdom, looking up at the stars. Yes it was a hectic year, most surreal. Especially when you’re used to being in a little room on your own. But it’s all worthwhile, because of the people you get to meet – I love that. Finding the time to write while I was doing all this, though? Very difficult.

G: Do you intend writing about Detective Joe Lucchesi for some time? Or are you intending to investigate other characters and situations?

AB: I love writing Joe. In The Caller, which I’ve just finished, he’s back with Manhattan North Homicide, heading up a serial killer task force. And while I was working on it, so many more ideas came to me about potential futures for him and the rest of the characters. But I always keep my mind open to whatever shoots through it. I stop, write some notes on the new ideas and fill folders on my laptop.

G: Your agent, Darley Anderson, originally got you a two-book contract. What happens now? Surely someone has signed you up for another load of books?

AB: I’m still under contract with The Caller and hoping to be signing for more soon.

G: I know you spend a lot of money on books and music, just like me. I know you read thrillers by your contemporaries such as Stuart MacBride, another Gateway Book of the Month, and the occasional biography which I’m pleased to have recommended. What type of music do you buy and like? And do you have music playing whilst you write?

AB: I like almost every type of music. I have a habit of playing the same song over and over. On a recent car journey, I played Evanescence’s My Immortal twenty-two times in a row; Amy Lee has such a beautiful, haunting voice. I’m always conscious of music, particularly as a soundtrack to life. If I hear a song I like, I memorise some lyrics, Google them, then go to iTunes and buy the track, maybe not the entire album. I buy lots of individual songs. I love Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Dolly Parton, Death Cab for Cutie, The Gossip, Anya Marina, Yann Tiersen, Eminem, The White Stripes. But I never listen to them when I’m writing. It’s either Mozart or silence. Or the sound of coffee being poured into a mug. Or Skittles rolling off my desk onto the floor. If I’m ever murdered, the killer will be caught because he’ll have a Skittle somewhere on his person.

G: I was amused by the Times Online interview, in which almost every question focused on money, and didn’t really bring out anything about you as a person. Hopefully you don’t have too many money worries now, and can look forward to writing your next novel without having to “raid the change jar”?

AB: Yes, that was a money-focused interview and I’m not really a money-focused person. It’s all a bit dirty. But I love that change jar! It represents so much, not least of which is simplicity. I tend to complicate my life.

G: Your contemporary-in-crime, Stuart MacBride, describes you as “a bit weird”. You were touring with him earlier this year – how would you return the compliment?

AB: Fair observation. I ain’t bovvered, tho.

G: Last time we spoke via e-mail you were talking about moving nearer the sea and having somewhere where you could work without having to rent cottages. Is that ambition anywhere near being realised?

AB: For now, I’m a wandering soul. But maybe that’s how it’s meant to be. What I’m getting tired of is having to pack and unpack… and buy new salt and pepper every time I rent a new place.

G: Will your next book be a thriller, or have you contemplated another genre altogether?

AB: Yes, my next book will be a thriller, but I know there’s so much more I want to do. I wrote a short film a few months back – a disturbing little tale, of course. So I feel whatever I write, it will always have a dark heart. I wouldn’t put money on me writing romantic fiction. Unless someone gets butchered on the path to true love.

G: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? All the books and magazines say “get an agent” but nowadays that’s just as difficult as getting a publisher used to be before the agents took over! Did you simply post the first chapters of DARKHOUSE to Darley Anderson and wait for them to contact you or is there more to it than that?

AB: My advice to anyone aspiring to do something they love is keep on trucking! It sounds simple, but the main thing is to get the book finished and not to lose faith along the way. Once it’s done, I really believe having an agent is the only way to go. Yes, it can be difficult, but agents do what they do because they know exactly what publishers want. And when it comes to the point where you’re meeting with publishers, you have someone on your side who knows more about publishing than you ever will. I imagine it’s very hard to focus on writing without having a kind agent there to handle the business side of things.  With Darkhouse, I sent the first three chapters to Darley and he called me a few days later. So I appreciate that that was speedy. I heard a writer say once, ‘Oh, well, I did it the hard way’ as though because it happened quickly for me, it diminished what I had done to achieve that. It was out of my hands! Every writer has a different story about how it worked out for them.

G: What books did you read as a youngster? Do you still have any of those books in your collection?

AB: I read all the time, all kinds of books. But the two that stand out in my memory shared a World War II backdrop – The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert De Jong: an amazing story about a Chinese war orphan during the Japanese occupation; and Alan and Naomi by Myron Levoy about a young girl who moves to New York with her mother and hasn’t spoken since she saw her father, a French resistance fighter, killed in Paris. They were such heart-wrenching stories. All my old books are in storage at the moment, which is traumatising me…

G: Can you name five books or authors that haveinfluenced you in your own writing career?

AB: I can’t say a book or author has influenced me in my career. I just don’t get influenced in that way, if that makes sense. My major fear when I started Darkhouse was that the pleasure of reading would change for me, that I would start dissecting novels instead of just enjoying them, which luckily hasn’t happened.

G: Finally, which five books and five pieces of music would you want to take with you to your desert island? I always cheat here when I’m interviewing myself, and say I want to take the complete Mahler symphonies, the complete Beethoven symphonies, the collected works of ELO, Gerry Rafferty, Beatles, the seven volumes that make up Stephen King’s DARK TOWER series, etc., etc. You can do the same, of course…..

AB: I am agonising over this, as if my ride to the desert island is leaving in one minute. I also know that these choices may change, so for now, I’ll go with my gut:

The Magic Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

All of Pat Ingoldsby’s books of poetry (I’m stretching the cheating thing to its limits, I know)

Never Enough by Eminem featuring 50 Cent and Nate Dogg

My Immortal by Evanescence (!)

Complete Works of Mozart

Calling All Angels by Jane Siberry with K.D. Lang
Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash

G: Thanks so much for taking part – my readers always say that the interviews are the best thing in Gateway – I sort of hoped it would be the reviews that kept people coming back, and that I was helping in some way to persuade people to buy books they might not otherwise consider, but of course it’s the people who write the books who provide the most interest. It’s been a huge pleasure talking to you, and whatever you’re doing right now, enjoy it, you’ve earned it! If you’re working on your third book, then I hope it’s as huge a success as the first two – alright, the second hasn’t been published yet, but we all know it’s going to be a smash, don’t we!

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