Best of Family & Relationships
Best of Family & Relationships
"So Many Books, So Little Time!"
Exclusive Interview with
Simon Rumney
When did you start writing?
On the day my psychiatrist diagnosed dyslexia and ADD. Already in my 40's, it was late in life to start writing but I had been too ashamed to write anything, even a postcard, for fear of humiliation until my shrink set me free.
What makes writing your passion?
Writing is the only way I can truly express myself. It is also the only thing which makes any sense to me.
How long have you been writing?
Since 1994
What was the feeling when you published your first book?
Disbelief. I still maintain my deeply entrenched 'imposter syndrome' even now.
What’s the story behind your choice of characters?
I imbue my characters with the fear and shame and humiliation that I have felt every day of my life. Being able to read words on a page but not understanding their meaning, caused great confusion during my early years. The humiliation metered out by callous school teachers formed the foundation for my imposter syndrome while my own troubled imagination did the rest. The suffering you read in my characters is real because it is how I feel.
What annoys you the most in pursuing a writing career?
The fact that I am so far outside the writing world. Going to writing festivals and talking to 'industry insiders' feels like visiting a hostile planet.
How do you get over the “writer’s block”?
I have never experienced writers block. Once I sit at the keyboard words simply appear.
We all know the writer’s path is never easy, what makes you keep going? What advice would you give to new authors?
Don't write for someone else, write for yourself. Having said that, I write for ‘Stephen Fry’. That sounds counterintuitive, even delusional, but what I mean by this is, I ask myself, 'What would Stephen Fry make of this sentence?' I know he will never read it but it forces me to write to a higher standard. My advice, treat the day to day as your end goal. 'Enjoy learning the process of how to get better and better without worrying about what will happen in the future.' When you hit the brick wall that is book sales, worry about it then.
If you could go back in time and talk to your younger self, what would you say?
Ignore the teachers! Just write!
Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with the bad ones?
I try not to care but I hate bad book reviews. I take them too personally, how can I not? Having said that, I really don't get many.
What is the feeling when you get a good review?
Someone truly understands what I'm getting at.
Have you ever incorporated something that happened to you in real life into your novels?
All the time. If not what happened, I certainly incorporate how I felt.
Which of your characters you can compare yourself with? Did you base that character on you?
All of them.
What do you think, the book cover is as important as the story?
Absolutly!
Do you connect with your readers? Do you mind having a chat with them or you prefer to express yourself through your writing?
My readers usually confess their similarities to me. Often thanking me for explaining how they feel.
Here is an example of the messages I receive:
‘What strikes me most about A Social War is the wonderful prose. Your writing is beautiful. Given your situation, I am nearly speechless. You have created a very believable story that helps readers understand the nature of the Roman civilization. The founders of the Empire were more than a thousand years ahead of their time. Even today, we are surrounded by power hungry souls, who are willing to risk every person on the planet for their own desires.
Congratulations on writing a magnificent story. I hope thousands read it; this is literature that can help many to understand, not only the failures of the Romans, but our own failures.’
How do you feel when people appreciate your work or recognize you in public?
Twinges of my imposter syndrome are pleasantly surprised but always grateful.
Who is your favorite author? Why?
I don't read much because it is an unpleasant experience, but the authors who's prose 'let me inside', for want of a better description, are Charles Dickens and Ernest Hemingway. Every book is a struggle for me but those two are so clever the words make sense. I once tried to read 'The Shipping News'. A very popular best seller but with prose so dense it was like reading a foreign language.
What’s the dream? Whom would you like to be as big as?
I would like to be recognized as a writer. That's it.
Would you rewrite any of your books? Why?
All the time. ‘Writing is re-writing.’ It's how everything improves. It's also fun to build from a foundation.
If you could switch places with any author – who would that be?
I need to be me to write my characters.
What would you say to the “trolls” on the internet? We all know them – people who like to write awful reviews to books they’ve never read or didn’t like that much, just to annoy the author.
Since finding out my mother was a narcissist, I have made a study of that mental disorder. Many of the trolls have narcissistic tendencies in as much as, tearing others down garners a response. This response makes them believe they matter and gives them a sense of control. I now know enough about the disorder to understand you can NEVER change their mind, so ignoring them is the only way to have any effect on them.
What would you say to your readers?
Give my work a chance!
Share a bit about yourself – where do you live, are you married, do you have kids?
As the product of a narcissist mother, I have lived my life in a very dysfunctional way. The expert in Narcissistic Personality Disorder NPD, HG Tudor, believes that survivors like me suffer from a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD. Accordingly, my behavior has been odd for most of my life. Many of my friendships and relationships have been linked with narcissists and therefore dysfunctional. The fact that I have ended up with small but loyal cohort of stable friends is something I still find remarkable. I was married for one year during the height of my madness. Friends laugh when I say in jest, it was, ‘The happiest year of my life.’
What is your day job if you have one?
It used to be running USA computer communication start-ups in Asia. As you can imagine, my imposter syndrome was off the charts for many years. Since beating my fraudulent brother in the probate courts, I have been traveling the world, living on beaches, and writing. A retirement funded by my pensions and hard won inheritance. I even wrote a cracking book about the court case. It's called 'KILLING TIME FOR MANNIE THE LIAR.'
What are your hobbies? What do you do in your free time?
When I'm not writing, I am swimming, watching documentaries and learning about the world from fellow travelers.
Did you have a happy childhood?
HELL NO! But it’s paying off now.
Is there a particular experience that made you start writing?
By chance I showed a draft letter to my shrink. After it took him an hour of my weeping to convince me that I wasn't as lazy and stupid as my school teachers told me I was, I went home and set up one of my still boxed PC'S. So many of them sat unused in my garage because the computer companies I worked for all gave them to me as a matter of course. I never bothered to plug them in because everything that needed to be written was dictated to my PA in order to hide my shame.
Do you have unpublished books? What are they about?
I was once in a relationship with a woman who enjoyed romance novels. I purchased a copy of a Mills & Boon paperback and read it, as best I could, to ascertain the formula. I then wrote a romance manuscript and presented it to her on her birthday. It was a very good story but not really my field of interest.
What do you think should be improved in the education of our children? What do we lack?
Empathy and understanding. I believe schools are more attuned to learning disabilities than they were when I was at school but students are still falling through the cracks.
If you were allowed 3 wishes – what would they be?
To be allowed to go back to my young self knowing what I know now. That’s all, the other two wishes wouldn’t really matter because I wouldn’t squander my potential a second time.
What is your favorite music?
Way too eclectic to answer.
Share a secret with us 🙂
Really understanding the intricacies of narcissism is like having a superpower because it affects so many people who don't know it is what drives all of their behavior.