Interview With An Anonymous Author About Publishing A Prequel To Dickens’ Oliver Twist

 

1. What inspired you to write this book?

As a cure for procrastination! In some ways, I suppose I didn’t need to write it at all. Since childhood I have always been a gifted daydreamer perfectly content to while away the rest of my life constructing little movies in my head. Then I realized that if I could nail some of these daydreams down on the page I would be able to make more sense of them. The book is therefore an attempt to string together all these fantasies, dreams and mental doodles into a linear, visually rich storyline. If Bridgerton were written by Thomas Hardy you would have an idea of where I am coming from. 

2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for?

Ah, now that is a question! There is a plot and it is fairly straightforward: a prequel to Oliver Twist where I try to put a different slant on the more reviled of Dickens’s characters. Taking pity on the misunderstood Mr. Bumble, and incensed by the ungentlemanly manner in which Dickens treated poor Nancy, my book brings them together into an earlier tale of romance, humor and tragedy.   

What, though, is the book about? On this I am much less sure. I want to give the characters the freedom to break away from the author-as-puppet master and live their own, complicated lives. The book is also about the way some experiences remain suspended in time, never growing old. Perhaps it is also about my desire to return to those same experiences through the portal of the story. The book is therefore about those moments in our lives that never die in our memories. 

If any of this makes it sounds like the book was cynically designed to slot into a genre and sell to a specific market niche then I am giving the wrong impression. This book was written for just one person: me. I hope, though, that readers will find their own portals to the past and it is with them that I share this story. 

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?

I must hold up my hand and admit that there is nothing “clever” about this book. By that I mean I do not have a box of tricks with which to dazzle the reader. You will not get to the end and find the characters were dead all along, or that the entire story is one single sentence. I did not write this book to impress anyone, nor to reinvent the English novel. Throughout, my only purpose was to share a good yarn with my reader. Contained within it are little nuggets of fun: despite the story being set in Dickensian England you might spot sly references to the internet, modern social issues and a horse that behaves suspiciously like an old British motorbike. I give these gobbets to the reader as tasty morsels that we can both enjoy; they are not a test and there is no prize at the end for getting the answers right. 

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?

They just popped into my head! There was a time when they were not there, and then there was a time when they were. I am particularly pleased with the cover design as it is entirely my own vision, if not actual execution. The end result is based on a mock-up I did at home and I am convinced my own hair survived from my first photograph to the final cover; follicle fame at last (or at least)! 

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!?

Just get on with it. Start it now, not the other now that starts tomorrow, but this now right here. Still waiting? Get stuck in as you will have plenty of time to clear up the details later. It is also far easier to improve what you have already written than to come up with the idea in the first place. 

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading? 

We never before had to question why we read books; there was only that one way to access stories. In the modern world these stories are everywhere, from fake news to TikTok fables. However, there is something vaguely dissatisfying about getting our stories in packets of social media. We are beginning to understand that you need a story contained in a stack of paper, bound together with glue and weighty with significance in your hand. Indeed, the proliferation of electronic alternatives means we will continue to take refuge in a medium that captivates us mentally, emotionally and physically. All the publishing industry needs to do is hold its nerve and keep releasing those little bundles of paper. 

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book? 

Yes, all of them! It is my autobiography from year zero, mashed and spiced with hopes, dreams and the odd event that never happened at all. In a meandering career I have been a truck driver, used car salesman, helicopter pilot, teacher and academic with a lot of fill-in jobs along the way. For a recruiter, it makes for an incoherent resume but for me it is a single, unified narrative. I believe it is the job of the writer to honestly describe what they see in their heads so that the reader can enjoy their own experience in the author’s world. We are all complicit in the story, that is the joy of it. 

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to?

The story is set in the era of Dickens and I have tried to emulate that style. According to a review by the Dickens Society this has been reasonably successful. I must, though, divulge a secret: it is not Dickens himself I am attempting to follow but another author entirely. As an adolescent I read the classic Lorna Doone by R D Blackmore. I found it absolutely impenetrable. The language was so stilted and Victorian that it felt more like an intellectual boot camp. That was until one particularly convoluted passage about a chamber pot that had me bursting into involuntary laughter. I read the rest of Lorna Dorne as a comedy and found it hilarious. The tone I chose for Out With Time is meant to be a gentle satire of that style. 

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?

The biggest problem was simply getting over myself. I could quite happily idle my time away pondering what little incidents or events to include without actually committing them to the page. I would say that is the most fun part of writing the book, before the writing starts. The hard work part is like building a house: the foundations and the brickwork are sheer drudgery, it doesn’t get to be fun until the furniture goes in. The challenge, then, was to make sure that words appeared on the page every day, whatever their quality. Missing a day simply moved the completion date on by a day, so I was only cheating myself. The solitary activity of tapping away at a keyboard is the one thing all writers share so you have to get used to it. 

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?

At last, an easy question! Obviously, I think they should be reading mine but I would say that. Honestly, though, I am told that once you get beyond Chapter 2 the book is a pleasure to read. You will find, I hope, the concerns of our modern lives veiled in a timeless era of etiquette, romance and skullduggery. One reader, a world champion grump, even shed a tear at the end of the story. In fact, I will let you into a little secret: I don’t read novels! Despite this, I do like reading my own. So, take it from me: if you don’t like novels, read this one. 

About The Author, Shoeless: Few authors would be foolish enough to attempt a prequel to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, but not this one. With the bravado of a first-time novelist, the author has a background in industry reports and academic publications where creativity is generally discouraged. Then again, a past history as car salesman, truck driver, teacher and helicopter pilot is perhaps as much background material as anyone could ask for. As it happens, all of this became subject matter for Out With Time so it seems there was a higher purpose all along. He now lives quietly in South London with his family. For more info, please see: https://shoeless.ampbk.com/

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.