      
      
      
An Interview
With
Richard Wright
ER!-Richard,
I just finished visiting your site at http://darkterrains.cjb.net/ Creepy... I love it! I
think I heard someone whisper, "Wanna read something
really scary...?"
Quoted from Cuckoo's blurb: "Gregory Summers knows
who he is. Greg is an ordinary man in a mundane job with
a contented wife and a future snug enough to struggle
for. Greg knows the answers to the questions. Except, one
day he doesn't. That day he returns home to discover that
his wife no longer recognises him at all, that his wife
is in fact married to another man called Greg
Summers." This was all it took for me to swing
over to Hard Shell Word Factory's site and download
Cuckoo!
What inspired you to write this book?
RW- A
profound bout of depression, I'm afraid. I'd
been meaning to have a crack at a story of some sort
for about a year, but never quite got round to
it. When I underwent something of a personal
crisis, the sort of thing that seems enormous at the
time but really isn't, I started writing. I'm
still not quite sure why that was the therapy I
chose, but I think it comes down to finding an
escape. I wasn't in a position to physically
leave my surroundings and rejuvenate somewhere, so
instead I found somewhere to go in my mind. I
created someone in much more trouble than I was,
Gregory Summers, and followed his story to the
end. I didn't really mean to write a novel - it
started with the first chapter, a man burning alive
in some sort of prison. Along the road of
finding out why and how he got to be in that
predicament, I realised the words were mounting up in
a serious way. By the time I knew what had
happened to Greg Summers, I guy I grew to like a
great deal, I had a whole novel on my hands.
That was really the first thing I'd written of any
length for years, and I haven't stopped writing
fiction since then.
ER!-365
days. 365 stories. Each 365 words. Very unique! Can
you tell us a little about this book, The Apocalypse
Year, from Lone Wolf Publications?
RW-
'Apocalypse Year: The Book of Days' is an exercise in
lunacy. It started when I picked up a book on
my girlfriend's (now my fiancée) coffee table.
It was one of those poetry collections which gives
you a poem for every day in the year. I flicked
through a few pages, and then promptly forgot about
it. A few days later, I'm at the keyboard
growling with frustration. I'd been handed a
wonderful true story by my girlfriend, an event from
earlier in her life which I found chilling when she
related it to me. I had believed it would make
a fine story, but I'd written about five hundred
words describing the incident, and couldn't think of
a story to go with it. I didn't want to ditch
the piece either - I liked what was there too
much. Then there was a blurry five minutes when
various notions collided - something of an
epiphany. As with all such moments, I can't
really tell you what happened in what order, all I
really remember is the rush that accompanied
it. I had on screen five hundred good words,
thought back to the poetry collection, and came up
with the notion of a short horror story for every day
of the year. At the time, we were coming up to
the millennium, so I chose to use the Apocalypse as a
uniting theme for the collection. Though many
of the stories don't touch on this main event, the
idea is for each to be a snapshot of some part of the
chaos caused when the world gears up for its
ending. I also realised I'd better limit the
size of the stories for the sake of sanity, and
thought that 365 words suited down to the ground.
Initially, the collection was being published as
electronic downloads, complete with music and art, by
Blindside Publishing. For the first few months
of the year, each month's parcel of fiction was
released on the first day of that month. What
we found though, altered that. While there was
interest in the collection, not enough people were
interested in buying it in instalments.
Instead, they bought one month and decided to wait
for the collected edition on CD-ROM. As such,
we stopped releasing the monthly packages, and are
moving straight to the collection, which will be a
signed and numbered limited edition from Lone Wolf
Publications early next year. Lone Wolf do
extraordinary work in this field, and I can't wait to
see the finished product.
ER!-Is
there a book out there that you're just dying to write
but for some reason haven't?
RW- Heh
- I've got dozens that I haven't been able to get to
yet. Some are notes on scraps of paper, some
are detailed ideas, some are even half-written.
I can't think of any reason that would stop me
producing a given novel once I'd committed to
it. Give it time, and I'm sure most of those
notes and ideas will appear somewhere.
ER!-What
would you say has been your biggest writing challenge?
RW-
Definitely 'Apocalypse Year'. It's been an
interesting exercise, telling stories in such a
restrictive form, while trying not to be repetitive
in the manner of the telling. It's also been a
very hard and fast course in editing - most of the
stories were up and over the thousand word mark in
the first draft. I've discovered an effective
economy of style through the project.
ER!-Many
writers have written since they were young. They were
daydreamers. Avid readers. What about you? Has your
passion to write always been there?
RW-
Certainly, although for a long time it played second
fiddle to my passion for acting. Both are
opposite approaches to the same goal of storytelling,
one collaborative, the other isolationist. In
the end, I prefer the solitary control I have as a
writer, for purely selfish reasons. I'm beholden to
nobody, and have nobody to prop me up. In the
end though, through both acting and writing, I get to
tell tales, and understand myself a little further
through the telling. I fervently hope that the
reader/audience understands themselves a little
further too.
ER!-Is
there anything out there that you'd like to do, but
haven't yet been given the opportunity?
RW- I'd
very much like to be writing as a full-time career,
as would so many authors I know. I run myself
into the ground doing a day job, coming home and
trying to spend time with my lady, and also maintain
some sort of writing schedule to boot. Of the
three, I know which one I'd like to get rid of, but
I've done the starving artist bit, and can't say I
particularly enjoyed it. I'd rather stay a
well-fed artist, thanks all the same.
ER!-Is
there a book that you've written, but we'll never see?
Why?
RW-
Nope, although there might be some ideas that never
materialise as a novel, that I cast aside because
they lose their hold over me, or which instead become
short stories or novellas. Very occasionally,
an idea which I had assumed was for a novel instead
goes down as a theatre or film script, but the story
usually turns up somewhere. That's where my
children's play 'Bizarmageddon' came from. I
have an urge to write that one up as a young adult
novel though - whether I'll have time to make that
happen is anybody's guess.
ER!-If you
weren't a writer, what would you be doing?
RW-
Acting most likely. Acting has really been my
mistress since I was a teenager. I'm in a
long-term relationship with writing at the moment,
one which I hope will stay with me for the rest of my
life. Occasionally though, I still pop over and
see my mistress for a quickie. It's easy for me
to imagine those two loves having happened in
reverse, with writing my secret mistress.
ER!-Of all
the character's you've written about, who would you say
is most like you? And why?
RW-
That's the toughest question so far, I think, because
there's something of me in most of the characters I
write. However, there's a guy called Dexter
Lomax, a journalist who appears in a short story
called 'The Loch' as well as the novel I'm working on
right now. Though outwardly we're totally
dissimilar, his inner life is very much my own, from
his cynicism to his capacity for wonder. 'The
Loch' appears in an anthology called 'Extremes',
available on CD-ROM from Lone Wolf Publications (you
can check them out through my website), and is one of
those lovely signed limited editions I mentioned
earlier. I have another regular character
called Jackson Greene, who outwardly is very like
me. Internally though, I've monkeyed around to
make him something of a flipside to myself.
ER!-What's
the non-writing world like for you? Is there a wife, a
girlfriend, a couple of each? Children?
RW-
Well, I live with my fiancée, an extraordinarily
talented actress called Georgette Ratcliffe.
We've been together for a couple of years now, and
are going to tie the knot in the Summer of
2001. We have a flat in Glasgow, where I work
in a large bookstore in the city centre. My
life is remarkably full - too full, as I mentioned
above. I could do with relaxing more, but get
an enormous amount of support from George in
everything I do. She's the centre of my world,
and always will be.
ER!-Many
readers wonder what's going on in an author's head, and
here's the part where we find out<g>.
Describe yourself in one line:
RW- A
romantic cynic.
ER!-(Finish
this sentence) On a Saturday night you'll find me...
RW-
Typing, usually. I work early on a Sunday
morning, so rarely go out Saturday nights. It's
one of my writing days, when I can devote myself to
it uninterrupted.
ER!-If I
were a cartoon character I'd be...
RW- The
bastard offspring of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
ER!-If I
could have one wish, I would wish...
RW- To
stay lucky. And for World peace, etc, etc.
ER!-What
kind of car do you drive?
RW- I
don't at the moment.
ER!-What
kind of car do you *want* to drive?
RW- I
love the new model Volkswagen Beetle.
ER!-Answer
the following questions as quickly as possible, but feel
free to expand on any of your answers (Hey, it's not a
test).:
What's your favorite movie?
RW-
Brassed Off
ER!-Favorite
song?
RW- At
the moment, 'Hope Street', by the Levellers
ER!-Favorite
snack?
RW- Red
Hot Pepperami
ER!-Favorite
book?
RW- The
Lord of the Rings
ER!-Typewriter
or computer?
RW-
Computer
ER!-Soup or
salad?
RW-
Soup
ER!-Pre-planner
or blind leap?
RW-
Blind leap, usually to my regret.
ER!-Turkey
burger or steak?
RW-
Steak
ER!-Slacks
or jeans?
RW-
Jeans
ER!-Boxers
or briefs?
RW-
Boxers
ER!-Are
blondes really more fun?
RW- No,
though they seem to enjoy themselves.
ER!-Have
you ever held anyone hostage?
RW- Not
literally.
ER!-If no,
would you?
RW- No,
I don't think so. I'm too realistic to believe it
would achieve anything.
ER!-Do you
believe in love at first sight?
RW- No
- I believe in strange blend of lust and respect at
first sight, which can become love alarmingly fast if
you follow it through.
ER!-Are
aliens real?
RW-
Hang on, I'll ask them…
No, apparently not.
ER!-If you
could vote members off of Gilligan's Island, who would
get the boot first?
RW-
While I've heard of Gilligan's Island, I've never
seen it (has it ever run in the UK?). In this
case, I'll take the fifth.
ER!-If
Godzilla and Superman got into a street fight (no weapons
allowed), who would win?
RW- A
street fight? Probably Godzilla. No
scruples, those hundred foot lizards…
ER!- What
is one thing about you that very few know?
RW- I
have absolutely no ego at all, though I often feign
one for the look of the thing.
ER!-What is
your greatest fear?
RW-
That the rest of the world will ever find out about
my greatest fear.
ER!-If you
could be anyone (dead or alive) who would you be? And
why?
RW- I'd
be myself in ten years, and already have everything
I'm working so hard for now.
ER!-And
finally (and you can take your time on this one:-)),
what's next for you? Your next book? Writing venture?
Goal?
RW-
Well, I've mentioned 'Apocalypse Year: The Book of
Days' coming early next year. That aside, I
have a couple of anthology appearances due, as well
as my debut as an anthology editor. I'm working on
the audio anthology 'Storytellers: Disembodied
Voices', featuring author readings from Ramsey
Campbell, Peter Crowther and Eve Rings, with sounds
from Junklight and art from Dave Fode. This one
is also coming from Lone Wolf Publications at the
start of 2001, and is something I'm very proud of
indeed.
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