Ben Myers: Rewriting Pop History

Ben Myers, an already well-known music journalist for NME, The Quietus, Melody Maker and more, has courted controversy with his second novel, Richard - a fictionalised imagining of the final days of tragic Manic Street Preachers lyricist, Richey Edwards. What the controversy around the novel has missed seems to be the tenderness with which Myers treats his main protagonist. Obviously a fan of the man and the period, Myers paints Edwards as sensitive and passionate, almost as revered as a French philosopher. It's certainly a brave premise.

We caught up with Ben Myers to talk about his favourite books, his writing process and why his shoes are a bit whiffy.

> Hello Ben how are you?

I’m well thanks. I just took my dog for a walk and it stood in some dog excrement. I think that’s what is called irony.

> If your writing was an inanimate object what would it be?

A dead fly, on a windowsill, on its back, next to a cup of cold black coffee. It’s raining outside, for all of eternity.

> Tell us about Richard. What was the writing process involved in writing it?

Richard is a novel about the life, final known days and subsequent disappearance of Richey Edwards, guitarist with the Manic Street Preachers. It also takes in the British music scene of the late 80s and early 1990s and considers themes such as depression, friendship, success and so forth.

> What was your inspiration for writing the book?

The story itself is so poignant and emotive and the symbolism of someone walking away from their entire so strong that I thought it could justifiably be placed in a semi-fictional setting in order to explore these themes at greater depth and also to reflect Richey Edwards’ own literary tastes. I saw parallels between him and some of the existential protagonists in the work of European writers such as Satre, Dostoesvsky and Celine and was also inspired by the sparse, clipped prose of contemporary writer such as Cormac McCarthy and David Peace.

> Was it hard to separate fact and fiction? What was the biggest leap of faith you took with the source material?

If we look around us, the merging of fact and fiction seems to be taking place everywhere: in newspapers, in television and most of all via the internet. This isn’t necessarily a good thing of course – facts seems to have been devalued of late - but so long as the reader knows that you are not presenting the definitive, literal truth but merely an individual take on it, then I think the grey areas that a work such as mine inhabits is acceptable. I think the biggest leap of faith was presuming to tell the story from the perspective of someone I have never met.

> Did you have dialogue with the Manics or anyone else in that camp for research?

The simple answer to this is no, though I spoke to many people who knew Richey Edwards – some of them quite intimately. None of this was used directly in the book, but did serve to paint a wider portrait of him when writing the book.

> Did you expect their reaction?

I’m not entirely sure what their reaction is actually. But I understand and accept the possibility that they do not want to read such a novel. It’s a strange concept to digest.

> What are you working on at the moment? What's next for you?

I’ve written another novel since Richard, which explores notions of violence, prejudice and persecution amongst the travelling community. I’m not sure whether this will be published or not.

I’m also currently writing a fairly pornographic novel about capitalism.

> Who is your favourite author of all time?

I have many favourites for various reasons but I never seem to tire of reading Bret Easton Ellis or the late Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun. Yukio Mishima too.

> What was your favourite book as a child and why?

Both Danny The Champion Of The World and The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl really captured my imagination at the age of seven or eight. I suppose I always preferred book that were grounded in reality – stories that were plausible rather than fantastical. I also enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock’s short stories when I was about ten. And, possibly oddly, the books of Judy Blume, which gave me a rare insight into a whole other world of periods and training bras.