Interview with Ronan O'Brien

Ronan O'Brien, a new writer on the block, has kindly agreed to an interview for the website. He is a soliciter and wrote Confessions of a Fallen Angel, and his second novel is due out August 2009. You can find The Ultimate Storylist's review on Confessions of a Fallen Angel here.

Being quite new in the writing world, (second book coming next year!) how was the publishing process for you?
Very tough! I have an A4 envelope containing dozens and dozens of rejection letters for Confessions of a Fallen Angel. After trying to get a break for nearly two years, I had almost thrown in the towel when I was in the supermarket one day and I got a call from one of the top agents in London. He said he was in the middle of reading my book and he loved it, and wanted to represent me. That was one of the best days of my life.

When were you first interested in writing?
I've always been more interested in reading than writing to be honest, and I never, ever even contemplated a career as a writer. It was just a hobby for me that turned into something more. I wrote a couple of plays when I was at university and they were staged. That was good fun but I didn't see it as a stepping stone to anything. It was more of a way to meet girls.

Are you allowed to tell us anything about your next novel or is it all top secret? But here's a place to advertise it anyway! ;)
One of the main characters might be a genie believe it or not, so it will have a pinch of the supernatural in it.

What is your favourite environment to write in?
I’m very fortunate in that I have a study in my house and I do most of my writing there. Sometimes I work on the kitchen table just to mix it up a bit (Those are the sort of crazy things I do occasionally!). I'm not one of those people who needs to move to a log cabin in the Alaskan Woods in order to write; anywhere reasonably quiet will do me.

When you have writers block, how do you deal with it?
I play pool! And afterwards, I play Wii Golf. I've never really had any big problem with writer's block. If you put in the time, then the story tends to sort of write itself.

How do you tweak your drafts? Who proof reads them for you?
I polish any new work until I can't improve it any further and then I forward it to an editor who works with my agent. He gives me lots of constructive criticism and then when we've kicked it into shape, he forwards the draft to another editor that works with my publishers, and the process starts all over again. I wrote six completely different endings to Confessions of a Fallen Angel before finally getting it right.

What are your top three favourite books?
Very tough question. There's a lot to choose from and so I'll tweak my answer and give you three books that I wish I had written, which is slightly different.
1. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Funniest book ever!)
2. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (A simple premise, brilliantly executed)
3. Broken by Daniel Clay (A brilliant debut novel. I'd definitely recommend checking it out)

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I really love playing pool believe it or not. After getting a publishing deal, the first thing I bought was a pool table! I play with it probably too much but it's a fairly harmless vice. I should spend more time reading fiction as I only read around a book every two weeks.

Who is your favourite character out of Confessions of a Fallen Angel, and why?
It would have to be the narrator because there is so much of me in him. I won't tell you which bits though!

Are any of your characters in Confessions of a Fallen Angel based on people you know in real life?
No. That's the answer that won't get me into trouble! It's also the truth though. Little characteristics of strangers or people who I know occasionally found their way into the book, but most of it is pure fiction. Two tiny characters have the same names as a niece and nephew of mine as I thought they might get a kick out of that when they are older.

What part of the book did you like writing the most?
Probably the acknowledgements, because at that stage, I knew for certain that it would be in a bookshop someday soon.

And most importantly, what inspired you to write it?
The very uninspiring answer to that is that I wrote a novel just to see if I could. At the time, most of the books I was reading didn't excite me particularly and so I thought I'd have a go myself almost as a test of discipline. But by the time I was halfway through it, it had really gotten under my skin and I knew that I was going to finish it even if it killed me. I had to finish it because I wanted to know what happened to the narrator in the end!

If you could give our members one useful writing tip, what would it be?
Write what you know for the first book at least. That's a cliché obviously, but the thing about clichés is that they're true. There's no excuse for not putting the time in, and that's where good discipline is essential. Set yourself an achievable weekly target number of words to write and stick to that target religiously! Ultimately though, you should only try to write a book that you would like to read. If you have a paragraph that seems boring, that's probably because it is boring, and so chop it out. Trust me, you will feel better afterwards.
Good luck and don't lose heart. Your work can always be improved, and so try not to take it personally when getting constructive criticism from someone. Try and take something positive from any feedback you get.

Thank you very much for answering our questions.

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Interview with Ronan O'Brien