A Guest Post by Author John Byrne Barry

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My Interview With…Well, Me

Over the decades, I’ve interviewed hundreds of people for news stories, profiles, book research, and more. I can count with my ten fingers, however, the number of times I’ve been interviewed as an author. One of my favorites — “Setting That Works” — was not a true interview where someone asked me questions and I answered them, but an interview I wrote myself and forwarded to a writer who did a light edit and then published it. 

So, since I have answers ready, but no one has shown up to ask me questions, I’m going that route again. Here then, is my interview with…well, me. 

How did Pirates of Sausalito come about? 

I live in Tam Valley, two miles from the Waldo Point houseboat harbor, in Sausalito, where close to 300 floating homes are docked. Intrigued by this unique community, I did a little research and learned that for decades, there was conflict between the artists, hippies, and squatters who lived there and the police, city leaders, and developers determined to evict them in order to build docks that would attract more affluent residents. This tumultuous time became known as the “houseboat wars.” 

The more I dug into the history of the houseboat wars, the more I thought it would make a promising setting for a murder mystery. Conveniently, I’m an actor in a local community theater troupe called the Tam Valley Players, which has performed a murder mystery every year for almost two decades. 

I pitched the idea for the play to the troupe and got the green light. 

But how did your play become a novel?

That’s an easy question. I finished writing the play in the summer of 2020, during the early months of the pandemic, and I had no idea if or when live theater would ever come back, so I thought, well, if we can’t perform this, why don’t I turn it into a novel? 

That turned out to be harder than I expected.

Why was it harder? 

I’m glad you asked. First off, it was easier than starting with a blank page. No doubt about that. I had a story full of drama, snappy and funny dialogue, and colorful characters. There was lots of action too — like the houseboaters resisting eviction by jumping into dinghies and pushing away police boats with oars. Also a sword fight.

In the play, I went for laughs, and the play was funny. We finally performed it in March 2023 and got lots of laughs. The play’s success didn’t rely on three-dimensional characters or cleverly placed clues. 

The challenge in translating the play to a novel was tone. Here’s what one beta reader of the novel, who also saw the play and very much enjoyed it, said: “The play works well as a farce works because the action is fast, and it’s Saturday night and we’re all ready for a laugh. We’re happy to watch comically farcical characters played by actors free to go over the top. But reading a novel is different.”

My problem was that I wanted to keep as much of the humor as I could, but so much of it was embedded in the farcical elements of the play, and relied on ridiculous caricatures instead of three-dimensional characters.

How did you address that?

The primary way was by delving into the interior thoughts and emotions of the characters — there’s none of that in the play. I narrated the story from ten different points of view, including the murder victim and the murderer. That changed the novel significantly because some of the characters became different than they’d been in the play. One in particular, Police Chief Tin Holland, turned into one of the main characters in the novel.

I was happy with how the multiple points of view gave the characters more depth, but it made my life as a writer harder. 

When I shared the almost-final draft with beta readers, I realized I had more to do. The most common theme to the feedback was that too many of the characters were not realistic or sympathetic.

In my rewrite, I “fixed” that problem by first toning down the farcical elements more than I already had, and then, more importantly, by finding opportunities to show the characters having empathy for other characters. I ended up with a 12-page document titled, “Add depth and empathy to characters.” 

For example, my self-absorbed pirate character Honest reflected on his sister Fate’s grief and guilt over their parents’ car accident, which created more sympathy for her as well as for him. 

I understand you narrated an audiobook of Pirates of Sausalito. Was that your first time?

Yes, and it was thrilling to read my words out loud into a professional microphone and audio setup. The audiobook was produced by Pro Audio Voices, and its founder, Becky Parker Geist, a friend and colleague I know through the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA), narrated the women’s parts. I narrated the men’s. 

The audiobook brought the characters to life again like the actors did in the play. Though I reviewed the audio enough times that I lost all perspective. I look forward to listening to the audiobook again in a year or two when I’ve forgotten enough of it that I can appreciate it more like a new listener.

Earlier this year, I wrote about the process and what I learned — Maniacal Laughs, Musical Stings, and Distinctive Voices — Eight Lessons From Recording My Audiobook. (Below is the “cover” of the audiobook.)

Anything else you’d like to add? 

Pirates of Sausalito is my shortest book, and one reason is that it started as a play. Because of the pandemic, I had two years between finishing the first draft and starting rehearsals, so I kept cutting, and every cut made the play better. 

I used to have trouble cutting my precious words, but that’s no longer the case. I want readers to keep turning the pages, so I keep things moving. I did the same with the Pirates novel. It’s hard to know if I sacrificed literary merit for pace, but if I did, that was intentional. 

This seems like a good time to end. Thank you for your time. 

But I have more to say. I —

We’re already at 1,000 words. Save it for next time.

One more quick thing. The audiobook is available wherever you find your audiobooks, and on March 15, I’m leading a workshop titled, “How to Write a Killer Blurb” for authors. The blurb for your book —

No need to go into that here. This is your author letter. You can add a section about your workshop below.

Oh, right, I’ll do that. Thank you for your questions. It’s been fun talking with you.

Join Me for ‘How to Write a Killer Book Blurb’ Workshop March 15

This collaborative, hands-on workshop is for authors who want to work with other participants to make their book blurbs stronger and sharper. Other than your book cover and title, nothing is more important in attracting readers to your book than your blurb, whether it’s on your back cover, on your online sales page, or your promotional collateral.

We’ll start by reviewing formulas that can help you improve your blurb, and then look at examples of effective blurbs for fiction and nonfiction. We’ll devote most of our time to putting participants’ blurbs up on the shared screen and, together, brainstorming ideas and editing copy. I led this workshop last spring at Book Passage and one participant said the most valuable part was collaborating with other participants to strengthen and sharpen the submitted blurbs.  

Register for the workshop here — How to Write a Killer Book Blurb. It’s $25 for BAIPA members, $40 for nonmembers. It’s on March 15, from 10 am to noon PST.

If you want your blurb workshopped, send 100 words or fewer to johnbyrnebarry@gmail.com by March 10. One blurb per participant.
 

I would love to hear from you. You can reach me at johnbyrnebarry@gmail.com or visit me at johnbyrnebarry.com and facebook.com/johnbyrnebarryauthor.

 TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY. MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH. WE WILL CELEBRATE IN NEXT WEEK’S POST.