Interview with
Peter Bycroft
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I have been a successful academic writer for most of my adult life covering research and topics as diverse as Indigenous Australians, Government policy and practice, Art and Culture, Suicide Prevention, Organizational, and Environmental Psychology, Regional Economic Development, Performance Management and Evaluation.
How long does it take you to write a book?
a lifetime of imagining, occasional research, four years of intensive research and two years of writing and editing a manuscript
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
that there is an enormous amount of non-biblical research, archaeological, genomic and linguistic evidence covering and explaining what was happening in and around the Hebrew Scribes as they were writing the Bible and that this research, rarely brought together, is relatively easy to find, access and explain
Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
The coverage is broad, comprehensive, and extremely interesting. This book is the equivalent of an academic Ph D.
Does writing energize or exhaust you?
totally energized by writing on topics that I find interesting and yet under-researched.
What is your writing Kryptonite?
Lack of sleep due to the excitement of finding new sources and new findings relevant to the book
Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
I am challenged by discovery, independent of what reception my book might receive. My book is obviously likely to be of interest to a niche and possibly specialist market
What authors did you dislike at first but grew into?
I don't read any fiction. Obviously, I knew the Bible was largely a mythological document, but it's existence as an exceptional example of ancient mythological writing interests me and it should be widely recognized as such.
At what point do you think someone should call themselves a writer?
after the first peer reviewed academic publication, client-accepted consultancy report or published book
What do the words “writer’s block” mean to you?
a necessary opportunity to stop, breath, re-assess your work and to patiently await the reemergence of inspiration and focus
Are there therapeutic benefits to modeling a character after someone you know?
as an historian, it is common to come across either individuals or characteristics that remind you of other known people (either real, related, or historical)
What comes first for you — the plot or the characters — and why?
an overall structure - call it a plot if you like, but it is a broad "roadmap" for where you want to go. I often draw it diagrammatically. For my current book the original diagrammatic roadmap I drew has turned out to be surprisingly accurate.
How would you describe your book’s ideal reader?
Inquisitive, objective, factual
How much research did you need to do for your book?
four years of intensive research across multiple disciplines, multiple different publications and publication formats (books, journals, newsletters, post-graduate theses, TED talks, Podcasts)
Tell us more about your book/s?
as a former successful academic, my interest remains in "discovery" - investigating topics that may be "taken for granted", but are poorly understood, poorly researched or poorly explained