Mary-ann
asked
J.D. Barker:
Okay, good but you COULD finish the books in the style of the authors, right? So that people would feel as though they were actually reading the author's work? Like you did with Dracul? Using your own name, of course. My sister read a finished version of Sanditon and said she could tell exactly where Austin left off. And I can't believe you wrote novels that others received credit for! Didn't it drive you crazy!
J.D. Barker
To give you an idea of how this works -
When I wrote DRACUL, I read everything Bram Stoker ever wrote and listened to an audiobook of DRACULA on repeat for the entire four months I was writing. By doing this, my brain managed to capture enough of his writing voice, cadence, vocabulary, etc. to match his. It's far more difficult than writing in my own voice. I'm not opposed to doing it again, but it would have to be the right project. I'd love to work with Thomas Harris to finish out the Hannibal Lecter series...it would need to be something like that.
When I wrote DRACUL, I read everything Bram Stoker ever wrote and listened to an audiobook of DRACULA on repeat for the entire four months I was writing. By doing this, my brain managed to capture enough of his writing voice, cadence, vocabulary, etc. to match his. It's far more difficult than writing in my own voice. I'm not opposed to doing it again, but it would have to be the right project. I'd love to work with Thomas Harris to finish out the Hannibal Lecter series...it would need to be something like that.
More Answered Questions
Clara Taylor
asked
J.D. Barker:
Obviously, you write great books on your own. Why write with another, albeit well-known, author? Is it just to sell more books? Genuinely perplexed by this, as his name is co-author on so many books. In the two I've read by two authors, I just try to figure who wrote which part (except for Swedish couple Lars Kepler).
A Goodreads user
asked
J.D. Barker:
Do you ever feel like changing the genre? Or trying out something which is unusual for your style?
Mary-ann
asked
J.D. Barker:
You said that with your Aspergers you have the unique ability to "hear" an author's voice and that was why you were able to write Dracul--you could hear Bram Stoker's voice. That is also what made you a good book doctor. Question: Unfinished novels. Would you be able to read, say, Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood and figure out who Dickens intended the murderer to be or even if he was actually murdered at all?
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