Bringing New Life to Old Tales: Sue Barnard interview
What is a fun fact about you that most of your readers won’t know?
A few may know, but the most bizarre thing I can think of is that I once went out to dinner and ended up sawn in half.
When did you first start writing and what was it that made you want to start?
I can’t remember when I actually started, of course at school you are made to do compulsory composition exercises. A distinct memory that does come to mind is that, when I was in my final year of primary school, we were entered into a national essay competition organised by Cadbury’s. We were made to write an essay about chocolate, given information booklets to study and had an hour under exam conditions to write our stories. The essays were all sent off, and the competition wasn’t thought about for the rest of the week. When the headmaster read out the results however, my essay was announced as first place. I was awarded a tin of Cadbury’s chocolate - the chocolate is now long gone but I keep the tin with my pens in it. Ever since then I’d dabbled with poems and short stories up until about 20 years ago I had a life changing event that prompted me to take my writing more seriously. I did a few creative writing courses organised by the Open University and some organised by a writer friend of mine and it took off from there. I look at my early stuff now though and it makes me cringe.
What inspired you to reinterpret classic tales?
This happened almost by accident, when we were first married my husband and I went to see Romeo and Juliet and there wasn’t a dry eye in the cinema at the end. I came away thinking this is the world’s greatest love story, but does it need to end so tragically? I thought about it for a long time, for decades. 15 years ago I made a bucket list of things I had to do before I die, one of them was to write the book you want to read. I always wanted to read the alternative version of Romeo and Juliet, why shouldn’t there be a book like that? Why not? And if there isn’t one, I should go ahead and write it, I started writing for myself. I didn't imagine it would be published. The plan was so that if I wanted to read the happier version, I could pick up the story I’d written and retreat into a quiet corner - it took about 6 months to put together. After that, a couple of close friends had asked to read my first draft and they encouraged me to take it further by showing a publisher. ‘The Ghostly Father’ came out on Valentine’s Day 2014.
What do you find the most challenging part of the writing process?
Sitting down and starting writing, once I get going the characters quite often take over and practically stand behind me telling me what to write. Procrastination is often a writer’s worst enemy. If procrastination was an Olympic sport I’d win gold medals every time. I frequently have experienced writer’s block, the only way I can shift it is to go away and do something else for a while, a lot of my ideas pop in my head when I'm gardening.
Do you think that writing can inspire change in the world? If so, where have you seen this?
On a personal level, yes. There is one particular book that has changed my life - That Devil Called Love by Lynda Chater. It’s a modern reworking of the Faust legend, the heroine finds out the hard way that youth, beauty, wealth, and fame don’t hold the key to long-lasting happiness. I first read it when I was in my 40s and it changed my whole outlook on life.
Do you have plans to publish more? If so, can you tell us what it is you’re working on now?
I’m working on a novel at the moment but it’s been on the go for some time - I've written the last paragraph so that I know what I’m working towards. I have a few projects to hand, a poetry project based on the work’s of Shakespeare and an anthology of short stories in which tragic heroines are given better outcomes.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Just go for it. Start writing and don’t worry about it being word-perfect at the beginning. A friend once said to me ‘you can’t edit a blank page’ and it has stuck with me throughout my writing career.
And finally, if you could talk to any writer, living or dead, who would it be? What would you ask?
Shakespeare. He has influenced so much of my own work, I’d like to ask him ‘how does it feel to have works so influential still to this day?’ ‘At the time of writing them, did you think that you would still be remembered so many centuries later?’
