Ask the Author: Barry A. Whittingham
Answered Questions (8)
Barry A. Whittingham
The hidden forces within which made me leave my native country to start a new life in France.
Barry A. Whittingham
Hello Anthony,
Many thanks for your interest and offer to review Barfield School. I'll be sending you a copy of the Mobi version shortly. I'd love to review your latest book. Please let me have a copy. The only problem is that I have a backlist of books to review, so I won't be able to start on it immediately.
Best regards,
Barry
Many thanks for your interest and offer to review Barfield School. I'll be sending you a copy of the Mobi version shortly. I'd love to review your latest book. Please let me have a copy. The only problem is that I have a backlist of books to review, so I won't be able to start on it immediately.
Best regards,
Barry
Barry A. Whittingham
Though conceived as a work of fiction whose main aim is to entertain, my most recent book, Barfield School (Book 1 in the trilogy CALL OF FRANCE), draws a good part of its inspiration from my own early dreams of starting a new life in a country which has always exerted an irresistible attraction on me. Similarly, the following two books will be a dramatized portrayal of my more notable experiences during my 45 years of expat living.
Barry A. Whittingham
Who was it who said writing is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration ? I can only repeat that for me it’s true. However, you do need to have a basic love of writing. Personally, I think it’s something you’re born with. Somewhere it’s in you and has to find expression. But writing a book, whatever its genre, is a daunting task and you’ve got to have the necessary staying power. As far as writing a novel is concerned the prospect of creating a world which has been mainly created by your imagination and being able to share it with others must fill you with enough excitement to keep you going through all the doubts and uncertainties you’ll certainly encounter along your way.
Barry A. Whittingham
Don’t rely on the inspiration of the moment to get you to sit down in front of your blank sheet of paper or computer screen. Establish a writing routine and make it an inseparable part of your everyday life. Start at a given time and set yourself a minimum writing period each day. Personally I always write between 9 a.m. and 12 a m. and sometimes longer if I’m in the mood. I prefer writing in the morning when I’m alert and fresh, but I’m retired and realize this wouldn’t be possible for everyone. You’ll just have to find the time slot that’s best adapted to your professional and domestic circumstances. We all have a life outside writing (I have a live-in partner to keep happy as well as a house and garden to look after) so we have to find some kind of compatibility between the two. In addition, we’re all different and some may prefer writing, or their circumstances may oblige them to write in the evenings. Even though I sometimes don’t feel particularly inspired, once I’ve settled down to the writing process I soon become absorbed and time just flies.
I’d also advise aspiring writers to read as much as they can, that's if they don’t already – especially works (both past and present) which are generally recognized as being the best of their kind.
I’d also advise aspiring writers to read as much as they can, that's if they don’t already – especially works (both past and present) which are generally recognized as being the best of their kind.
Barry A. Whittingham
A difficult question to answer in just a few words. It’s a bit like being asked, ‘What is the best thing about living for you?’ I suppose it’s a combination of several things. The opportunity it gives to create and immerse yourself in a world peopled with characters you can invest with the hopes, fears, doubts, ambitions, failures and failings common enough in us all for a reader to be able to readily identify with. Having a philosophical turn of mind I also like to introduce themes with a universal, timeless dimension and which are an inseparable part of our human condition. Perhaps it’s the former teacher in me which gives me great satisfaction in feeling that what I write both entertains and instructs. Writing is also an inner journey and has allowed me to discover certain aspects of myself which I had previously only glimpsed. And when you’re in the process of writing a book you’re in the privileged position of having an almost permanent companion by your side.
Barry A. Whittingham
I often compare my writing methods to those of a potter or an artist. The blank page (or rather computer screen) staring at me is like a shapeless mound of clay or an empty canvass. I have a basic routine. I do most of my writing in the morning when I’m alert and fresh. I usually get up early (around 5 o’clock) make myself a cup of coffee and take it back to bed with me along with pen and paper. I’ll then scribble down a rough draft of basic ideas as they enter my head and in any order. Sometimes they take time coming, but after the floodgates usually open and I can find enough material for that particular day. I can’t really say that I suffer from the dreaded writer’s block. After a good breakfast I’ll then settle down in my office and work on this initial draft. I never try to concentrate on producing the final sentence right away. It’s much more a question of adding details, modifying or discarding others until gradually a final version begins to take shape. I’m something of a perfectionist and attach great importance to finding le mot juste, and can sometimes spend as much as half an hour agonizing over the choice between two or three relatively synonymous words. I’ll then go over what I’ve produced again and again until I’m satisfied it has the necessary form, polish and rythm, and that I’m expressing myself as clearly and precisely as I possibly can. I attach great importance to the way sentences flow and often read what I’ve written aloud to myself. I usually lose count of the number of operations it takes for me to progress from the initial draft to the final version.
Barry A. Whittingham
I’m now turning my thoughts to the second book in the trilogy CALL OF FRANCE. While Book 1, Barfield School, focuses on the thoughts, feelings and motivations of a young French teacher, Michael Morgan, and his obsessional dreams of escaping from his humdrum and increasingly complicated existence in England the scene now changes to his new life in France and the fate his year’s stay will reserve for him.
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