Interview with RJ Barker, author of The Bone Ships

A few weeks ago I posted on Reddit asking about 'telling' in one of my favourite books, The Lies of Locke Lamora. You can see the whole thread here. 

Amazingly, one of the replies was from RJ Barker, author of The Bone Ships, which was one of my favourite reads this year. I reviewed it here, but will probably do so again at some point with my new angle for reviews. 

He offered some long-needed-but-didn’t-know-I-needed-it advice that really cut through a myth that I'd held on to (I'll put out a dedicated post on it, but the gist is that telling is ok). After some back and forth I pitched if I could ask him some more questions, and was surprised when he said yes.

The following interview highlights not only his process for creating amazing fantasy stories, but also some insights 'behind the curtain' of authorship. I'm super grateful for the time, kindness and advice RJ offered me, and hope his words inspire you as they did me! 

From RJBarker.com

BN: I absolutely loved the world in The Bone Ships, especially the consistency and small details that made it pop (such as the sun never being called the sun but Skearith's eye). Do you have a process or system around worldbuilding to get it so tight and consistent, or is it spontaneous and you tighten up during editing?

RJB: I have a few central ideas when I start, but mostly I make things up on the fly and then correct it all in edit. Also, because I write quite quickly and publishing works quite slowly I’m often doing edits on a book by the time I’m well into the next one so I can move things back and forth. It looks much cleverer than it really is.

BN: On the tail of that, for your writing overall are you a 'gardener' (write without a formal plan or outline, discovering it as you go) or 'architect' (design the story and characters before writing)?

RJB: I am totally making 90%of it up as I go. I often know where I am heading but the route I will use to get there is as much a mystery to me as it is to the reader.  I think my subconscious is probably a far better writer than I am.

BN: In our back and forth on Reddit, you mentioned that "all writing advice is good apart from when it isn't and at the same time all writing advice is bad apart from when it isn't" - what's something else you've learned as an author that you wish you'd known earlier?

RJB: The best thing I have ever been told, and that I still use, is ‘what works for you is what works.’ Incredibly freeing, lets you follow the way you want to tell stories. But you also need to be aware that writing is a strange creature, you absolutely need to go the way you need to go and not let people derail you with their way of doing things, but at the same time you do have to be ready to take on criticism and learn from it, so it’s a bit of a tightrope. As a rule of thumb, if one of my early readers picks up on something I am always asking the question ‘did I do that on purpose?’ A definite choice is generally not an error.

Except when it is.  

BN: Struggle seems to be a big part of pursuing any creative endeavor. What's the hardest thing you've faced as an author, and how did you get over it?

RJB: Putting aside my health which is troublesome, I’d say time. It’s difficult not to be impatient, to feel like you are ready to be out there but no one is paying attention. I know how incredibly frustrating that feeling is. However, when I go back and look at stuff I did I can quite clearly see I wasn’t ready. Any artistic endeavour is kind of inherently frustrating because there is no wrong and right, you can’t know if people will like what you do. It’s not maths where there is a wrong and right answer. So maybe I should say patience rather than time, even though that patience will be forced on you. You get over it because you have to, you either give up or you don’t and if there is one thing I am it’s stubborn to the point of foolishness.

BN: Does writing have a deep purpose for you, like a message or theme you want to convey, or a closely-held personal meaning?

RJB: I have a great belief in people, and that we need to work together to create anything great, and I hope that anyone who reads my books sees that and also goes away thinking violence is a terrible thing, and not something fun and exciting. On a personal level, I’ve always been creative, and that is a huge part of who I am (Music before writing, though I was terrible at it.). I am always writing, or thinking about writing or looking at the media I consume through the prism of writing. There’s not really much else I can do, so I’m very lucky that I get to do it for a living.

BN: I'm currently going through the (often disheartening) process of submitting to agents. Can you share your story of how you became published?

RJB: My story isn’t really very useful. My whole life things have kind of happened to me in a non-traditional way and this was no different. An editor read a short story of mine and asked to see more, what I showed him wasn’t for him but through a bit of a convoluted process my stuff ended up in front of an agent via that editor and a writer they were with and I signed with him. That ended up not working out, in a very boring non-dramatic way, and that agent said I should give my current agent, Ed Wilson at Johnson and Alcock a try, and I did, and we got on a great. Even if Ed wasn’t my agent I’d want to be friends with him, so it’s good that he knows his stuff as well.

BN: What advice would present RJ give younger RJ when you were first trying to evolve from a prospective writer to a published author?

RJB: Well, there would be little point as I doubt I would have listened…  (More seriously, the only advice to give someone who is on the way is ‘don’t quit.’)

BN: Is there anything about the life of an author vs a writer that has surprised you?

RJB: Not really, I don’t go into things with expectations, I’m very much a live in the now type of person. I do the thing, and try my best to enjoy it as much as possible so I was never expecting anything, it’s all just an experience to be embraced..

BN: What's the best place for people to follow you and keep updated on your work?

RJB: It was Twitter where I’m @dedbutdrmng, but that’s sort of died now. I’m on Bluesky as RJBarker and I have a mailing list on my website www.RJBarker.co.uk but I can’t actually remember the last time I mailed anything out.  I should probably get on that.