Featured Interview With Des Birch
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I live in Norfolk UK with my wife Julie. I’m a writing nut, a shark nut, wild about the natural world and I love to empower young people. I am frightened of heights, bears and hagfish; an odd combination I know but reality is often stranger than fiction.
I have raised my two children on my own, been in shark cages, stroked big cats, jumped off a mountain, SCUBA dived the Red Sea and lived in other European countries. I enjoy life to the full!
I do not write about super heroes or people with special powers. I would much rather take ordinary people, place them in extraordinary situations and record how they react.
I have always written in one form or another but in 2006 while living in Spain, I wrote my first novel: The Diary of an Innocent. A couple of years later I moved back to England and married Julie, with whose help and support I continue writing.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I can not remember a time when I was not writing. It certainly began before I learned joined-up writing. I do not write simply for publication. For me, writing is my best form of communication. From eulogies to letters of complaint, wedding speeches to a marriage proposal, writing is my world. My greatest desire is to use my books to teach the young about life and the wonderful world in which we live. That is why I wrote the ‘Dark Waters’ series and I have had some wonderful feedback on the books. The third and final book will be published as soon as my editor is happy with it. I type one-handed while holding a fossilised Megalodon tooth in the other. For me, the story comes last and is largely incidental. I do not follow the usual recommendations for authors, and I only ever write one draft, as I edit along the way.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Strangely enough, I read little fiction, even though I write it. I prefer factual books, often about nature, science or personal achievement: Touching the Void comes to mind. My greatest influence has to be the bard himself. Shakespeare looks at an object or situation and sees it in a completely different way. My favourite fiction subject matter is anything to do with the oceans. I do not like science fiction, apart from a few exceptions (such as The Time Machine), and I hate romance.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Somewhere Beyond Dark Waters is the third book in the Dark Waters series. It assumes that you have read at least the first book, and preferably the second book as well. While the first two books are designed to help young people through the rites of passage into adulthood, the third book takes the hero from the first book and follows him throughout his life. It is designed to show young people what it means to grow up, fall in love, marry, cope with the death of a close family member and eventually his own demise. The hero in the second book is also included as his granddaughter. This book took me three times as long as either of the other two. It just seemed much more difficult to write, but I do not know why.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles