Lucky 13 Interview With Chris Walsh

1 – Can you start by telling us a little about your current book?

My current book is called The Dig Street Festival, out in April from Louise Walters Books. Set just before the UK pub smoking ban in 2006 it’s about a DIY store mopper and cleaner who decides he wants to ‘take humanity to the next level’, in Walthamstow. Louise Walters pointed out to me that it’s a Pollyanna book – perhaps that’s one of the key human stories. Anyway, John Torrington, the main character (he’s named after a young sailor frozen in ice in the Northwest Passage – look him up if yer don’t know him) encounters several sizeable blockers in his quest to develop the local humanity – and all might not be what it seems at the DIY store...

2 – Are you a plotter or a panster?

If you’re asking if I’m a WWII era German tank, no, I’m not. I’m definitely not a plotter either – wish I was! I can’t plan to save my life. I’ve tried, and I died. I start with an emotion (men can be emotional creatures when it suits them) and dive in. It took me many years to write Dig Street. A. I taught myself to write on it. B. I had to thoroughly feel out the inside to see what I wanted to say, and what the universe fancied me saying. I believe in mandalas and all that Jungian guff too.

3 – Savoury or sweet?

Sweet. But I’ve good teeth.

4 – Three books to a desert Island. Go!

Anna Karenina (sorry, pretentious, but I love Leo)

Butcher’s Crossing, John Williams

Factotum, Charles Bukowski

5 – Star Wars or Star Trek?

Star Trek, every time. I don’t get the hype about Star Wars, it’s proper claptrap.

6 – If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

To write a commercially bestselling book.

7 – Music or Silence when writing?

I start with silence, to find my place – and then use music to seal myself from the immediate world to keep the flow. Right now I’m listening to Rodeo by Aaron Copland. Lyrics are no good, as they impinge – so, classical, jazz, or electronica. I find the white noise of cafes and conversation fine too, and actually dropped a few almost verbatim overheard conversations into Dig Street – one where two women were wondering what the lump was on another woman’s head.

8 – If you could live anywhere in the world, and take everything that you love with you, where would you choose?

France. I love France – wine, cheese, baguettes, snails, grumpy French people. It’s tres bon.

9 - Your favourite karaoke song?

I used to sing Daniel by Elton John, but haven’t for a number of years because I lost the will to make an arse of myself. Used to love making a right tit of myself as a youngster – some kind of ‘look at me!’ masochism. Testing the world’s boundaries, I guess. Shame we lose the immediacy of reality as we age, and retreat more into our heads.

10 – One piece of advice to an aspiring writer?

Don’t doubt yourself. That’s it. But it’s very difficult not to, and perhaps impossible. I am an author, but I still think I’m useless, at core.

11 – You win £1 million, but you must give half to charity. Which charity do you chose, and what do you do with the rest of the money?

NSPCC. With the rest of it, I’d treat friends and relatives, and get on the ruddy housing ladder – am divorced, lost the lot.

12 – Horror films, yes or no? If so, any favourites?

Yes, though I need a teddy or another human to hold/hide behind. It’s got to be The Shining. I love everything about it. Although the book is quite a bit scarier.

13 - What are you currently working on?

I’m trying to write my lockdown novel, like 1.73bn other writers, worldwide. They’ll ALL be bestsellers. It’s been hard to write during the last 12 months, and I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time staring out of my living room window thinking. But thinking is working.