A Conversation with Martyn Waites, author of White Riot

Q: What was your favourite childhood book?
MW: I don’t really have one. I was quite fond of The Wind in the Willows or a while, but most of the time I just read Batman and Spiderman comics. Loads of them. Thousands, in fact.

Q: Which book has made you laugh?
MW: Skin Deep by Carl Hiassen. In fact, anything by Carl Hiassen. It’s a rare book that can make me laugh, certainly out loud.

Q: Which book has made you cry?
MW: Recently? The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Actually, that made me laugh too. And wonder. It’s one of those books I couldn’t read quick enough yet wanted to stretch out as long as possible. I loved it, felt the characters were as real as my family. The only other book that’s moved me so much was A Prayer For Owen Meaney by John Irving. When I’d finished reading it, it made the world seem like a different place. And that’s a rare gift.

Q: Which book would you give to a friend as a present?
MW: Depends on the friend. Mostly I just palm them off with one of mine and they seem quite happy. I sign it first, of course.

Q: Which other writers do you admire?
MW: How long have you got? All time greats: Nelson Allgren, Harry Crews, Hubert Selby Jnr, Kurt Vonnegut, John Fante, Charles Bukowski, Patrick Hamilton, Julian Maclaren Ross, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, Chester Himes, Jim Thompson, Derek Raymond and the top writer for me, Graham Greene. Ones working now: James Lee Burke, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Peace, James Ellroy, Daniel Woodrell, James Sallis, Walter Mosley. And some of the new British crime writers are truly exciting too like Cathi Unsworth, Ray Banks, Allan Guthrie. I could go on.

Q: Which classic have you always meant to read and never got round to it?
MW: None. Classics are only considered classics because other people say so. I make my own idea up of what constitutes a classic. I hate this canonical idea.

Q: What are your top five books of all time, in order or otherwise?
MW: I’ll try to narrow it down to five but it changes hourly.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, The Red Riding Quartet by David Peace, The LA Quartet by James Ellroy, Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler, and Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned by Walter Mosley

Ask me in an hour and you’ll get a completely different answer.

Q: Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?
MW: Not really, although I remember going to see the film version of Sara Paretsky’s VI Warchovski with Kathleen Turner and thinking (and this is the sanitised version) I could do better than that. So I did.

Q: What is your favourite time of day to write?
MW: Mid to late afternoon. I can start at three and keep going for hours then.

Q: And favourite place?
MW: My office.

Q: Longhand or word processor?
MW: Computer. I used to religiously work longhand and only use the computer for editing purposes but I’ve trained myself to type everything.

Q: Which fictional character would you most like to have met?
MW: My own character, Joe Donovan. I think he’d be good company but then I do spend a lot of time with him already.

Q: Who, in your opinion, is the greatest writer of all time?
MW: Graham Greene. Want to fight about it?

Q: Which book have you found yourself unable to finish?
MW: How long have you got? All those over-hyped books you simply MUST READ that get all the column inches, prizes and reviews. I’m usually bored by page sixty.

Q: What is your favourite word?
MW: Osmosis.

Q: Other than writing, what other jobs or professions have you undertaken or considered?
MW: I was an actor for eleven years before I started writing and it still calls me back. Apart from that I dabbled with stand up comedy and was also a failed rock star. All the really practical jobs.

Q: What was the first piece you ever had in print?
MW: My first novel, Mary’s Prayer.

Q: Can you think of a question that we didn’t ask you?
MW: What’s your biggest secret?

Q: What would the answer be?
MW: Like I would tell . . .