Friday Feature: @BenCoulter
Well, dear Prosers, it’s Friday already. How in the name of heck did that happen? We all know what this beautiful day of the week means: Friday Feature! This week, we shine the interrogative light on British Proser and bestselling author Ben Coulter.
His username on Prose is pretty simple: @BenCoulter and he describes himself in three words (at our request) as: “Convoluted Maggot Brain.”
Ben lives in Letchworth Garden City in England, which was home to the UK’s first roundabout, fascinating fact fans. Without further ado we dive straight in and ask what it is that Ben does to pay the bills. He responds: “I’d like to say author, but an occupation has to make you money doesn’t it? So in that case I own a small electrical contracting company.”
As ever, we crave knowing what his and all people’s relationship is with writing. His answer is awesome: “My relationship with writing is the same as my relationship with my lungs, they just expand and contract of their own free will, so I may stay here on this planet a bit longer.”
“It evolves every time I write something new and every time that something new gets criticised. So I have learned to love the critic above all else. The critic is the hand of your fallen, guardian angel prodding you in the right direction.”
As for what value reading adds to his personal and professional life, Ben expounds thus:
“Well, if I’d never had read, I guess I’d never have written. Although I’m not sure that’s entirely true. I wasn’t one of those teenagers glued to a book. To a movie screen, yes, but books not so much. I didn’t finish my first novel until I was around 18 years old. Yet I wrote my first film script around 8 years old. Then my second the day later. They were horseshit, but that is how I chose to expel my creative energy inspired by film. And interestingly not by picking up a camera or directing my own sofa show. Then I moved onto song writing and poetry. For most of my sensitive, angst ridden teenage years. But fiction writing I have grown into for my full time creative outlet and couldn’t imagine it being anything else.”
We tell Ben that we want to know what he is up to now and what to expect in the near future. He happily fills us in: “I’m just going through the proof reads of my fourth novel A SoCal Story. It’s about the seductive draw and the murky underbelly of celebrity and success, about addiction in its various forms – drugs, fame, money and lust – and the insidious way in which it takes hold, bit by bit, of every emotional fibre and strand of integrity. But more importantly than that, it’s about the light which illuminates those who make it through all of this with their creativity, and mental health still intact.“
You can read sneak previews of SoCal on Ben’s feed. We love what we’ve read so far, so use that to crowbar in the question of what it is that Ben loves about Prose. This is what: “I love the fact that I have never read anything bad on there yet. Everyone who I read seems to be good, or great. I love that. I think it’s an online environment that inspires and educates.”
Tying in once more with our Books Before You Die feature, Ben tells us his BBYD: “The Art of Happiness by H.H. The Dalai Lama.”
As for any unsung heroes that got him into reading or writing, we chuckled at Ben’s reply: “I’d love to say a grandparent, or an English teacher, or an introverted neighbour who had a reading shed at the bottom of her garden, but that’s just not the case. My English teacher sent me to the headmaster more than she praised me, my grandparents were blind and/or deaf and my neighbour polished his ford escort whilst listening to R Kelly. Sorry for the lack of romance, but all I can say is I got myself into writing.“
His quote, that sums him up is this: “You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. ― Friedrich Nietzsche”
When prompted for the music he writes to, his choice is a good one: “Contemporary classical and film scores, from the likes of Ludovico Einaudi, Clint Mansell and Max Richter.”
The Time Machine door opens to reveal the bookless future dystopian world to Ben. What he says to the people gathered there is profound to say the least: “You’re lucky, as we had these handful of books that just wouldn’t go away, wars were fought over them and judgments dished out from their pages like bats from a twilight cave. Ah, but I see you all dress the same and have no soul. Here take this copy of The Alchemist and reproduce it like ultra violet rays in an Alaskan summer."
Wow. When asked if he has a local Indie Bookstore we could approach for our ongoing feature extolling the virtues of those booky realms, his answer is David’s Bookshop in Letchworth. We have featured them already, so please check it out on the blog site.
Is there anything else that Ben would like us to know? Just this: “You can buy my first three novels at the link attached. They’re urban crime thrillers with a philosophical undertone.”
We are sure you’ll agree that was a great interview with some splendid answers. Thanks to Ben for his time. You can follow and interact with him on Prose where he is @BenCoulter and on Twitter where his username is @BCoulterAuthor