John Higgs
/How did you become a writer?
On a material level it was after I started putting one word after another. But mentally I don’t think I really saw myself as a writer until after I heard about people I didn’t know being affected by my books.
Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).
Over the course of my life, I’d say I’ve learnt a lot from and been influenced by Douglas Adams, Terrance Dicks, Alan Moore, Robert Anton Wilson, Douglas Coupland, Bill Drummond, William Blake and Lau Tzu. I realize that this list gives the impression that my reading is predominantly male which is certainly not the case – but in the interests of honesty, those are the writers who have had the most impact on me.
When and where do you write?
I do a thousand words a day, four days a week, at an old rolltop desk in the back of my living room. For me, that’s a solid, achievable target that allows time for research, reading and thinking. Although fitting in emails and self-promotion is always a struggle.
What are you working on now?
This morning I was tweaking the back cover blurb for my next book, (Love And Let Die: Bond, the Beatles and the British Psyche) which is out in September, and doing promotion for the US hardback and UK paperback release for William Blake Vs The World. Tomorrow I’ll get back to finishing the proposal for what I’m only publicly referring to as Book 12.
I’ve taken to not talking about future books until they are ready. It’s partly so people aren’t sick of hearing about them before they even come out – but also I think it helps to shield them from other people’s opinions while they are still growing. You have to let them find their natural shape, as weird and awkward as that might be.
Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?
No, never. There are some days when it comes slower, but not being able to write has never been my problem. My problem is the danger of my brain melting due to having too much to write.
What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
To remember that readers are smarter, and weirder, than they realize.
What’s your advice to new writers?
When you get some money, make it last.
John Higgs is a writer who specializes in finding previously unsuspected narratives, hidden in obscure corners of our history and culture, which can change the way we see the world. His work has been described as “Absolutely wonderful” by Terry Gilliam and “breathtakingly lucid” by Alan Moore. According to The Times, “Higgs’s prose has a diamond-hard quality. He knows how to make us relate.” His books include The KLF, Stranger Than We Can Imagine, Watling Street and William Blake Vs The World.
