BookBlast interview with Benjamin Myers, author
Benjamin Myers, where were you born, and where did you grow up?
I was born in Dryburn Hospital, Durham. I grew up three miles away in a suburb of the city.
What sorts of books were in your family home? Any particular formative influences?
We had all sorts of books, but especially a lot of fiction. From a young age, I enjoyed Roald Dahl, the anthologies of suspense stories that Hitchcock put his name to, Stephen King novels, and a lot of works that bridge the gap between adolescence and young adulthood – Dracula, Robinson Crusoe, Huckleberry Finn – but also a lot of female-oriented books too, especially by Judy Blume. I read all of her work, which of course went down well with the lads in the north-east in the 1980s.
That was all probably under the age of twelve, at which point I got heavily into comics, particularly the counter-cultural underground, stuff like Robert Crumb and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Then I delved headlong into fiction: George Orwell, Laurie Lee, D.H. Lawrence, James Baldwin, William Burroughs, Harry Crews. Given that the average household in the UK purchases one or two books per year, I was very lucky to have access to the written word at all.
Why do you write?
Writing can be a form of alchemy, I think. With only twenty six letters continually being arranged in new configurations, a writer can build entire universes; evoke fear, desire, nausea. If you want to look at it on a deeper level, it could be seen as an occultist (in the traditional sense) practice, a form of magic. The same for some music too. How else can you explain the ability to physically impact someone on the other side of the world? My head seems to be full of stories that I want to expel, and there is nothing else I would rather be doing. When I am not writing, I’m thinking about when I can write next.
Your advice to new writers just starting out?
I’d say they would be wise to divorce the creative process from the financial one as soon as possible. Expect to live in penury as you probably won’t make any money; once that is realized, you should be liberated enough to create. Read as much as possible too. Read everything, especially poetry. You almost certainly won’t publish the first novel that you write, so never give up. A true writer writes regardless. When I was twenty two, I went to Hanif Kureishi’s house to interview him and happened to mention that I was struggling to find the time to write. He just shrugged and said: “Get up earlier.”
How do you choose your subjects?
My books are generally an amalgamation of things I am interested in at any given time and often follow recurring themes such as corruption, human nature, power, survival, and alienation, often with the landscape of the north of England taking a central role. I’m very faddish, so some things that I was into five years ago may be of little interest to me now. The landscape aspect is a constant, though, and though my work has been described as very bleak, I hope that there is a moral code there. Sometimes you have to show the worst of people to show the best of people too.
How do you move from research to writing; is it difficult to begin?
I don’t see the two things as being separate, really – the writing itself is part of the research process and vice-versa. I sort of slip into subjects or am surprised to discover I am writing about something that I never intended to. Also, ending a book is much harder than beginning one. I don’t think you ever actually finish writing a book; instead, you just stop in anger, exhaustion, doubt, and disgust, and then walk away.
As an author, what are you most proud (or embarrassed) of writing?
I’m proud of the occasional sentence here or there, but for the most part, I’m embarrassed by it all.
When you look back at the books you have written, is there a favourite?
My books are my children, and they are all ugly bastards. When I think of my novel Beastings (2014), though, I know it was chiseled down over many, many rewrites and was about as good as I could possibly make it at that time. There is a tension there. A feel to it. My latest book, The Gallows Pole, is certainly the most expansive and involved the highest level of research, so perhaps I’d choose that one. It was the most enjoyable to write because a lot of it was done on foot: wandering, exploring, seeing, and connecting with the past in the small Pennine town in which I live. Also, I very much like the book cover, though of course, I didn’t design it. I’m a strong believer that you should always judge a book by its cover. But not people.
Do you write every day; what is your writing process? Do you do many drafts?
I write almost every day, at least five or six days per week, usually somewhere between 9 am or 10 am and 6 pm, though that is not rigid, and I take lots of breaks to do other things, like wandering about and talking to people. Walking and chopping wood are good things to do. They are rhythmic. I like to go and swim in reservoirs and rivers too. Each book usually goes through five or six drafts over the course of two years or so. But then it might go through a year or two of limbo, either being rejected by publishers or sitting in a schedule for publication. The writing is the enjoyable part.
Your views on book publishing?
As a writer, I wholeheartedly encourage the publishing of books.
Do you enjoy reading e-books?
I’ve never read one, which isn’t to say that I’m against them.
Your views on social media?
It’s all a crock of shit; I’m on there every day, just another hypocritical bastard rasping into the digital abyss.
If you could go anywhere in time for one day, where would you go and why?
My latest novel is set in West Yorkshire in 1770, around where I live, so I’d be interested to step back and see how accurate a portrait I created – if at all.
Who are the five people, living or dead, you’d invite to a party?
Emperor Claudius, Sylvia Plath, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Noel Coward, Serena Williams.
Which characters in history do you like the most?
I suppose I tend to like the losers and the underdogs.
Your heroes in fiction? And in real life?
‘Heroes’ is a strange concept because people are people and therefore deeply flawed.
Your favourite joke?
I’m afraid I don’t know any.
Your chief characteristic and your chief fault?
I like to think that I have a sense of humour, but on the downside, I do swear a lot.
Your bedside reading?
I’ve got about sixty books by my bed at the moment.
Your views on success?
Success is not needing an alarm clock.
Your motto?
Don’t be a prick.
Benjamin Myers is the author of many novels, including The Gallows Pole, Turning Blue, Beastings, Pig Iron, Richard, The Book of Fuck – a novella, Snorri & Frosti, and four collections of poetry. He is also a journalist contributing to various online and print publications. Originally published by Bluemoose Books, he is now with Bloomsbury. His novel Cuddy was awarded the Goldsmiths Prize in association with the New Statesman in November 2023.
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