Ask the Author: Damian Barr
Answered Questions (6)
Damian Barr
Andy, well more power to your pen! And to your tarot cards. Walking helps me too, I try to get out every day (this year I had an accident that made this difficult). The prematch nerves are part of it. It helps to know I am not alone with this and neither are you. So thanks for sharing. PS I'm lucky enough to have a garden and find weeding helps.
Damian Barr
Andy thanks for this question. I grew up in a house without books- the first books I owened were given to me by Social Services. In Maggie & Me I talk about the importance of libraries and stories to giving me relief and escape from poverty and violence. Working class readers and writers face increasingly big obstacles. Advances for writers are shrinking, libraries are closing and AI is advancing. Safety nets are being taken away, as you point out. So, yes, i feel very strongly that there is a real danger that the number of people who can 'afford' to write and fight to get published is shrinking and becoming richer and more uniform. This dearth of stories will impoverish us all. I would say the Society of Authors, the Royal Literary Fund and the various regional writing development groups, like New Writing North, continue to offer material support and help.
Damian Barr
Boris Johnson is Prime Minister. No Deal Brexit looms.
Damian Barr
thanks for your question. I'll answer as best I can. Basically, i want to draw attention to the books I really, really like or maybe even love. Those are the ones I give 4 or 5 stars to. Conversely, some books I haven't rated which I think are actual masterpieces because, tbh, I feel a bit unqualified to give a star rating to say Truman Capote. And some I don't rate because I don't rate them even though I've read them. And often I forget to rate at all. I hope that helps!
Damian Barr
It's a few months since I finished a year of editing on my novel, You Will Be Safe Here. Proofs have gone out to and my first readers are getting back to me. It's thrilling! Somehow this makes the whole thing real. They keep asking after my characters--what happens next? I wonder the same thing all the time. I miss them more than I miss some actual people but I'm resisting the impulse to check in on them. Just.
Every month I write a column for High Life, the British Airways magazine. The column is called Novel Destinations and it's all about what to read where. It's great fun. Up next: New York (again!)
There are two new stories brewing but I've no idea what they'll become yet (if anything). And I'm finally getting to grips with Final Draft because I am FINALLY working on those telly ideas.
So, I'm always working on a lot of different things and that's just the way I like it. What are you working on?
Every month I write a column for High Life, the British Airways magazine. The column is called Novel Destinations and it's all about what to read where. It's great fun. Up next: New York (again!)
There are two new stories brewing but I've no idea what they'll become yet (if anything). And I'm finally getting to grips with Final Draft because I am FINALLY working on those telly ideas.
So, I'm always working on a lot of different things and that's just the way I like it. What are you working on?
Damian Barr
Read. Not all readers become writers but all writers were readers first. So, read whatever and whenever you can. Make notes on that moves you and what peeves you. I don't think it matters if you're reading e-books or hard-backs or hand-written scrolls. Read.
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