Interview with Danny Rhodes

Lisa Glass talks to author Danny Rhodes about writing, weed and ASBOs.

Danny Rhodes’s gritty novel, Asboville (published by Maia Press) is the story of JB who is served with an ASBO and sent away from London to live in a caravan with his uncle at the seaside, where he faces a long summer painting beach huts, trying to adapt to his new way of life (and the local factions) while his mother is left to pick up the pieces back home.

We have an exciting Guest Review of Asboville coming up soon on Vulpes Libris. The review will be by a debut author of teen fiction who recently published her first novel with Random House…

 

ANTI-SOCIAL TEENS

Could you talk a bit about your inspiration for Asboville?

Most definitely the students I’ve taught over the last eight years as an English teacher. I’ve met a few that are genuinely okay but who seem to be in constant trouble. Often it’s their own fault, they know better but somehow end up in trouble anyway. The idea was to try to get behind the facade/bravado and see what was there.

I also got inspiration from reading article after article on anti-social behaviour, then there’s listening to music (a big inspiration when searching for atmosphere) and of course setting, which I think we’ll come to later.

And how difficult was it to write a novel from the perspective of a sixteen-year-old petty criminal?

Well, if I carry it off then not too difficult. A lot of what JB experiences outside of the anti-social aspects of the novel is stuff we can all relate to. Loving somebody, feeling alienated, feeling misunderstood, all these things are familiar to each of us so it was just a case of getting that down…

TO SWEAR OR NOT TO SWEAR

Did you feel you were ever writing for a certain audience? And has there been interesting feedback from teen readers?

I wanted to write a teen love story though not specifically for teen readers (though I wanted teens to read it!) I think this is why my work of this type is a little difficult to pigeon-hole. Teenagers that have read it have got something out of it but so have adults. It was presented as neither a specific novel for teens or for adults and depending on where you go you’ll find it in different sections of bookshops. I’d like to think this was a good thing but I feel the publishing world (with the exception of Maia Press at least) tends to like to label a product (and a writer) more clearly. To give you an example, I’ve had people say the dialogue is not graphic enough to reflect teenage language but also received letters of praise from people who felt refreshed for not having to read a book about teenagers that contained lots of words beginning with F and C and B and W etc. I never wanted it to contain swearing because I always felt schools might be interested in it and I’m happy to say that’s paid off because it’s now being taught in a number of schools around the country…

I’m interested in your decision to not include swearing. I have to admit, I hadn’t really noticed the lack of swearing. I suppose because the mood of the writing felt right, and the tone of the dialogue, and even the syntax seemed to fit the teen characters. As someone who grew up on a council estate awash with ‘hoodies’ it was refreshing to see teen working-class characters who weren’t demonised as brain-dead louts. This is probably an impossible question (extra apologies as I’ve been asked it myself, and should therefore know better), but how did you make these supposedly ‘difficult’ characters so likeable?

There never really was going to be any swearing in the novel, not necessarily because I made the decision to omit it but because the characters just didn’t force it upon me (I know this sounds terribly cliched and arty but the truth is that characters often provide their own voices…). This contrasts with some short stories I’ve written where the characters are prolific with expletives or sometimes, especially when writing first person narratives, the narrators themselves. I wrote a story that was published in Openwide Magazine called ‘Casualty Ward’ and the main character in that used disgusting language…

What happened then was, as the novel progressed and people scanning draft copies started reading it and mentioning the lack of swearing and questioning if it was realistic, at that point I made a decision with Maia that we’d go through and see if there was any unnecessary swearing in it. There was a tiny amount that I then took out…though I think one or two words got through because they just seemed the most natural.

In terms of making the characters likeable, I’m not so worried about that. I do hope that readers are sympathetic of them. That was more the intention. There’s this new programme on TV called ‘White’ (Friday BBC2 9pm and on through the weekend) and it’s going to look at the issues surrounding white working class Britain. I’m really looking forward to watching it. Listen, young working class white youths of today are facing many very serious challenges. Some of the problems have been brought upon themselves and some of them have been forced upon them by their parents and grandparents, the decisions and choices they made when they were younger. It is far too easy for middle class Britain to look at the working classes and sneer, to be unsympathetic but some of these kids have absolutely nothing to look forward to or aspire to. We have to be sympathetic about that don’t we?

Totally agree about the sneering and lack of sympathy. So would you say your book has a message? Despite the sadness in the book, the ending seemed very hopeful to me. Would you agree?

If I’d had my way initially, the books message would have been far bleaker. I don’t want to spoil the story for any potential readers but there are two real endings in the novel, the one that is there and the one that occurs before the end. My publishers were of the opinion that readers need to feel some sense of hope so I had to look at the ending and try to find some. I tried to do this subtly. I think they were right by the way. There has to be some hope doesn’t there?

 

A STANCE ON WEED?

There are quite a few references to marijuana in the novel - did you ever feel as if you had to present any kind of stance on drugs, given your hope that the book could be used in schools?

When I was writing the book, marijuana was an obsession with a whole section of the teenagers I was teaching so it seemed very natural to include it. I couldn’t go a day in school without hearing about it. You have to have a duty as a writer to tell some truths I think. The teenage bookshelves I used to stalk were full of fantasy and adventure (they still are) and I used to get angry that people weren’t publishing contemporary novels looking at contemporary issues. Of course I was a little blind because the books are there, you just have to look a bit closer. I’ve mellowed a bit since then. The most important thing I felt was not to glamorise marijuana. Many people see it as a harmless drug but I’ve known enough people become obsessed by it to know that it isn’t harmless. It might not be any worse than some other substances but it still has some very negative effects on people. I’ve noticed a change in the last year or two though. Young people seem to be less enthralled by it, or at least they don’t shout about it like they used to. Perhaps it’s going out of fashion?

 

THE SEA

There aren’t yards of description but you conjure very believable settings for the reader, which I thought impressive. How important would you say ‘place’ is in your work?

Place is massively important, particularly in this novel and to some extent my new book. It’s the environments JB finds himself in that seep into the very essence of his being, be it the estate where he comes from or the wide open spaces of the coast where he winds up. Also I was living by the sea when I wrote the book and I wanted to capture how that is because it is very different to live by the sea day after day rather than visit it sporadically. You notice the subtle changes in it when you see it daily, the many, many colours and forms it takes. I’m sure you know where I’m coming from here!!!

THE TRICKY PUBLISHING INDUSTRY AND ADVICE FOR NEW WRITERS

Asboville feels very realistic to me and it doesn’t pull any punches. As I was reading it I kept wondering what the rather middle-class publishing world would make of it - how was the road to publication?

The road to publication was a long and difficult one. I got rejections and letters of encouragement, got an agent and got nowhere (a story many writers can relate to) and then I got lucky with Maggie and Jane at Maia who made the whole process easy, enjoyable and after years of slow progress, very, very rapid. I sent it to them unsolicited in Jan 06 and it was on shelves by Oct 06. It hasn’t got any easier though. I’ve been through a whole new set of frustrations with the next novel!!!

So what would your advice be for aspiring writers? And do you think that new writers should write to try to fill a specific gap in the market? Or should aim to produce work that is easily categorised? Or is it more a case of ‘Write what you want, and to hell with the rest’?

My feeling is that you need to try and satisfy all of these things. So that’s no help then! I think writers seeking publication (and that includes me by the way as there are never any guarantees) need to be aware of the market, what is being published, who by, what is popular etc. You have to remember that it’s an industry. There is a tremendous scope though, so no writer should feel they have to write a book they don’t want to or don’t feel passionate about etc. It would probably be a pretty crap book if they did. I think it’s more about writing the book you have to write (or want to write a lot) and then trying to see how you can make it appealing to the right publisher. Of course there is a huge downside to this. You can write a children’s fantasy novel and get a rejection that says ‘there is too much fantasy fiction in the market’ but then visit your local book shop for the next twelve months and see hundreds more fantasy titles appear. This can be very frustrating but it’s worth remembering that in general the publishing world is at least a year to two ahead of you. In other words, the books you see on the shelves were largely accepted for publication at least a year earlier. When I was writing Asboville I kept reading the headlines about Anti-Social Behaviour and thinking ‘I’d better hurry or somebody will write my book’ but of course that is silly. A great motivator though!

I have some other advice. Try to treat it like a career. Build a CV of publications. Get your work out there. Get things published for free and for next to nothing. Support small magazines. I’m not saying it’s the answer but at least it shows a publisher or agent that you are serious about what you want to do and that you haven’t simply thought ‘that’s a good way to make a few quid’ because from my experience, you won’t make a lot! Not unless you’re incredibly lucky!

I’ll be honest here and say that I could go on for pages and pages about this topic, about not giving up, about how to approach publishers, where to discover markets, what to read etc. If your readers want to throw specific questions my way I’ll have a go at answering them etc…bearing in mind I am just a little way down the path myself.

I’d also advise them to visit Susan Hill’s blog. She is currently producing a series of articles on writing and has forty books and forty plus years in the business to her name…

THE NEW ‘ARMY NOVEL’

Last but not least: since you’ve mentioned the new novel perhaps you could tell us a little about it? Is it in a similar genre to Asboville?

The new book with Maia will be very similar in style and tone. Some people did ask about a sequel to Asboville. Well, it’s not that but the main character in the new novel could easily be JB a year or two down the line. It’s a book about a lad who decides to join the army and the journey that takes him on. It’s due to be published in Spring 2009…

For more information about Danny click here.

For Danny’s blog go here.

Asboville has had glowing newspaper reviews, including The Guardian here and The New Statesman here.