Christopher Seufert Interviews Author Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell has published over 40 books, most of them
translated into more than a dozen languages. The Sharpe series,
of which there are now twenty, was made into a TV series by
Carlton Television, and shown in the US on Masterpiece Theatre.
He lives and writes from his home in Chatham, Cape Cod.
Christopher Seufert: I was astounded to find that you've sold
over 12,000,000 copies world-wide of the Sharpe Series, which is
just a fraction of your catalog. Furthermore, the Boston Globe
recently stated that you were perhaps 'the greatest writer of
historical novels today." Are you a success by your own standard?
Bernard Cornwell: I'm a success inasmuch that I enjoy my life,
which is an enormous blessing and that doesn't depend on
commercial success (though I wouldn't be such a fool as to deny
that it helps). What I mean by that is that the point of life,
as I see it, is not to write books or scale mountains or sail
oceans, but to achieve happiness, and preferably an unselfish
happiness. It just so happens that I write books, and I'm
amazingly lucky that the books sell well all across the world,
but even the biggest financial success will not compensate for
an ill-lived life. I'm fortunate that the books sell, but even
more fortunate to live in Chatham, to be very happily married
and to have, on the whole, a fairly clear conscience. Anyone who
claims to have an entirely clear conscience is almost certainly
a bore.
CS: The Boston Globe also pointed to the irony that "There are
places where Bernard Cornwell is a household name. His adopted
home here on Cape Cod isn't one of them." I get the sense that
they're correct, that you do in fact walk the streets of Chatham
in general anonymity, as opposed to similarly successful Chatham
residents. Would you say this is true?
BC: Absolutely true, and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Mind you, even in places where I'm much better known, I walk in
anonymity, mainly because folks know authors' names, but not
their faces. I did a TV series for the British History Channel a
few years ago and for a few weeks afterwards I was accosted by
folk in Britain wanting to talk, which was flattering, but the
memory faded and blessed anonymity returned.
CS: Sharpe's Havoc, published in 2003, was the first of your
many novels to reach the New York Times Best Seller list here in
the U.S. Meanwhile in Britain, you've already had many best
sellers, including the Sharpe series going to television. To
what do you attribute this discrepancy? Do you see your
popularity in the United States increasing with your increasing
publication of stories based on American history?
BC: The discrepancy is entirely based, I think, on the fact that
I write best when I'm writing about what I know, and that is
British history. And though I've lived in the States for over 25
years and am now an American citizen, I still hear British
voices in my head. Writing British dialogue is easy, writing
American is harder, and I feel much more confident writing about
Brits. So the books have a greater appeal to a British audience,
but that hasn't stopped them making best-seller lists in places
like Brazil, Japan and at least a dozen other countries. In the
end their appeal is not necessarily the history, but the quality
of the story-telling, and a good story transcends national
boundaries. I still have to crack the French market, though that
isn't entirely surprising considering that the Sharpe novels are
endless tales of French defeat.
CS: You've been a resident of Chatham for some years now. When
you moved here, as the story goes, you didn't have a work permit
and so, began writing for a living. Were you surprised that it
worked out as that practical a solution? I'd imagine many who
came to that solution would end up back in England in 6 months.
BC: I was astonished! Actually I moved to New Jersey in 1980 and
didn't discover Chatham until 1990, by which time the books were
selling, but it was still a daft decision, based solely on love.
Judy couldn't move to Britain for family reasons, so I had to
come to the States, and the U.S. government wouldn't give me a
Green Card, so I airily told her I'd write a book. Well, it
worked, and I'm still here, and so's she, and ain't we lucky?
Looking back, of course, it was irresponsible, mad, forlorn,
idiotic, but if you don't take chances then you'll never have a
winning hand, and I've no regrets. I sometimes wonder what would
have happened if the first book had not sold . . . doesn't bear
thinking about, but I suppose we'd have made it work somehow.
CS: Prior to 1980 you were a television producer with the BBC.
Do you miss working in that medium? Do you find there's a
simplicity to writing that wasn't there previously in your work
as a television producer?
BC: I don't miss it at all. Television is a young person's
medium. I had ten great years in it, had an enormous amount of
fun, travelled all over the world, and got out. And yes, there's
a simplicity to writing books because you're not a member of a
team, so you make all the decisions yourself instead of
deferring to a committee. I get asked to appear on television -
at the moment I have two invitations from Britain to present
long military history series, but I'm not sure whether I really
want to do it - I fear the seduction of vanity, but recognise
that it would help sell books - so I dunno what I shall do.
CS: Do you have a local writing community or fellow writers that
you look to for support and advice?
BC: Writing is a solitary occupation. If you can't do it on your
own then you probably can't do it. So no, no local writing
community. At risk of sounding foully pompous I think that
writers' groups are probably very useful at the beginning of a
writing career. Not that I've ever been in such a group and the
only time I was ever invited to one I left in disgust because
they were pushing the idea of 'writing as therapy'.
CS: Did you have a writing mentor? Do you mentor others here?
BC: I don't have a mentor. I have a terrific, marvellous,
unbelievably helpful editor in London and she has the biggest
influence, but even so we disagree as much as we agree. I'll
happily mentor anyone who wants mentoring, and most of that goes
on by internet rather than face to face. The one thing I will
not do is read other peoples' unpublished work. The reason for
that is that it doesn't help. I'm not in a position to publish
them or act as an agent for them, so instead I put them in touch
with an agent whose job is to read unpublished work. I know that
sounds churlish, but right now, on my desk, there are four books
waiting to be read whose publishers want me to give them a
'puff', two books I'm reviewing for newspapers in London, one
book I desperately need to read for research, and a couple more
for pleasure, so I simply don't have time to read more. Agents
will read unpublished work because they might make money, and
that's their job. It isn't mine.
CS: You've written an admirable and ungodly number of books,
about forty I read in my pre-interview research, which makes
almost two books a year. I'm suprised that your publisher can
handle that kind of output, frankly. What is their overall
strategy and are they able to put the time and attention into it
that each book deserves?
BC: So far it's 43 books in 25 years. Publishers don't mind!
Publishers like 'established' authors because they can pretty
much anticipate sales and therefore cashflow in an otherwise
uncertain industry. The strategy differs from place to place -
in London we produce a book for the Christmas market (i.e.
published in October), while New York prefers to wait for the
New Year when a book has a greater chance of making the New York
Times list. If there's a second book then we put it out in April
and these days that's almost always a Sharpe novel. Paperback
launches are usually in early summer (to get the vacation
market) and have a lighter coloured jacket than the Christmas
version - and so it goes on. But publishers are in the business
of making profits, so they love getting two books a year. They'd
have three if they could.
CS: How do you approach the work of writing?
BC: With unabandoned pleasure. It's fun. I sit down every day
and tell stories. Some folk would kill to get that chance.
CS: What does a typical writing day look like for you, from
waking to turning in at night, and how does it compare to a
conventional 9 to 5 job?
BC: I start early - usually by 5 am, and work through to 5 pm,
with breaks for lunch, boring exercise, etc etc. But it's
usually a full day. It's better than 9 to 5 because I'm my own
boss so I can take off when I want to, and the dress code is
non-existent and the commute is terrific. I enjoy it, so there's
no discipline involved, and I'm not a subscriber to the idea of
'writer's block', or rather I subscribe to the notion that on
the day a nurse can telephone a hospital and be excused work on
the grounds of 'nurse's block' is the day I'll start suffering
from writer's block. I volunteered for this life, wanted it and
am not going to bitch about it now that I've got it. Of course
some days are easier than others, but my worst day is better
than being in most humdrum occupations.
CS: How long does it take you to write a typical novel,
including research, writing and editing time?
BC: Research is a lifelong occupation so it's hard to factor it
in, but I reckon most books take 5 months from start to finish.
CS: Does your wife get involved in your writing and research
trips or is she sick to death of it by now?
BC: She likes the research trips . . .who wouldn't? Spain,
Portugal, India . . lots of the English countryside. Other than
that she doesn't get involved, but I don't think I'd survive as
a writer without her. She has a busy time as a yoga teacher and
hospice volunteer and doesn't want to get involved with the
writing which is, I have to keep stressing this, a solitary vice.
CS: Your books are successful enough now to give you the freedom
to essentially do what you want. Do you see yourself giving less
time to writing in the future?
BC: I'd like to cut it down to three books in two years instead
of two a year - but whether that'll happen I don't know. I took
time off last year to sail the Atlantic, and if I got more
opportunities for blue-water cruising I might take them. Not
sure.
CS: In addition to the books you've already published, I'd
imagine you have many more that are in various stages or other
of completion. Is this true or do you tackle one book at a time,
research it, write it, publish it, and move on?
BC: One book at a time . . though I'm usually doing the research
for others while I'm writing, but that sort of research is
fairly desultory and I like to stick to the book being written -
and writing a book concentrates the mind so the research is more
productive. Then you start another book and suddenly the galley
proofs of the last one come in and you have to wrench your
attention away from what you're writing and try to remember what
you were thinking when you wrote the previous one.
CS: After the great success of your Sharpe series on British
television, do you have any more novels that are being
considered for television series or films?
BC: I think they've all been optioned - but whether any will
actually be made? I doubt it, and certainly don't lose sleep
over it.
CS: Do you take vacations or do you find that your book tours
and historical research give you enough travel?
BC: Book tours and research provide a lot of travel - too much,
I sometimes think, but we do take vacations. Judy is
inordinately fond of the Far East so we try to go there every
couple of years, and I make a pilgrimage to England every rugby
season. I'd like to make a similar pilgrimage in the cricket
season, but it coincides with the sailing season on the Cape and
sailing wins every time.
CS: Do you ever get sick of working in your office, grab your
notebook and hit a coffeeshop?
BC: No, never. Not sure what I'd so with a notebook other than
swat flies. If I want a break I'd rather go down to Stage Harbor
and talk boats.
CS: Where's your favorite place in Chatham to depressurize?
BC: Stage Harbor and adjacent waters. We have a gaff-rigged
topsail cutter, which sounds much grander than she really is,
but she's exquisitely beautiful and shamefully slow and we spend
a lot of time aboard when we can. But there's no better place to
relax.
CS: How do you celebrate a novel's completion?
BC: Not sure I do any more, other than a general feeling of
relief modified by the thought that another one will have to be
started soon. I'll probably have an Irish whiskey.
CS: I haven't seen much in your past interviews about the
production of your audio books, which I shamefully happen to
really like. Are you involved in the production of those as well?
BC: Not in the slightest.
CS: Why didn't you narrate the audio books yourself? I would
think actor Sean Bean, who played Richard Sharpe so dynamically
on television would also be in the running.
BC: Sean did narrate some of the earlier ones, but I imagine his
fee has become too steep for the producers, or perhaps he
doesn't enjoy doing it. I've never been asked to do it, and am
not sure I'd want to.
CS: I've read that there may be a new productions of your Sharpe
book series coming to television and that you're one of the
producers. Is that looking like it will happen?
BC: It looks as though they'll be filming in India this winter,
but it isn't guaranteed. Say 95% certain?? I'm definitely NOT
one of the producers, and don't want to be. I know nothing about
producing TV drama and any involvement on my part is liable to
prove an obstacle to the producers, so I prefer to be a
cheerleader and let them get on with it.
CS: Do you like living in Chatham?
BC: I love living in Chatham. It's a huge privilege and a
constant pleasure, and I don't want to live anywhere else, and
probably won't.
CS: Any plans to have a book set right here, somewhere in the
rough-and-tumble maritime history of Chatham? The Monomoy
Lifesavers had some pretty charismatic characters and of course,
the British were in our harbors in both wars.
BC: Probably not, but it's dangerous to say never. There are
some terrific books already about Chatham - I especially love
the stories by Rose Connors - but I'm best known for military
history fiction and it's probably wise to stick to that and let
Rose write Chatham's portrait.