Although Below Luck Level isn’t only about illness, Alzheimer’s and how it affects its sufferers (and their loves ones) is a central theme to the book. Do you write from any personal experience or did writing the book require a large amount of research?
Unlike many writers, I never write about either myself or the people close to me. I started writing when I retired from my real job; in a new city, with my children off to see the world, I had a commodity which most writers lack – time at my disposal. I decided to fill this time doing research on subjects that interested me and it proved a very enriching experience.
With Below Luck Level, I was able to find answers to even my most obscure questions on-line. Although my own parents didn’t suffer from Alzheimer’s, I had to watch them getting older, more frail and diminished. I found the experience traumatic so I could empathise with my heroine’s circumstances.
Hannah the protagonist is a fascinating character (with her own flaws), but she is also very likeable. Who or what inspired aspects of her character?
Although I say my characters are never based on real people, I am fortunate to have a wide variety of friends. We had to move a lot because of my husband’s job, and consequently I was frequently forced to make new friends. I was lucky enough to build life-long relationships in each of the places we lived and I have no doubt that I have siphoned off various aspects of their characters – and probably my own - for the characters in my books.
In the Acknowledgements section you say that the ending of the book changed a few times. What were some of the alternative endings? (without giving away the actual ending to our readers!)
When I started writing, my aim was to write a humorous novel but by the time I got to page 46, all the main protagonists were dead, so I had to start again! Although my style of writing is essentially light, all my novels have an element of sadness, because life is like that. Below Luck Level revolves around Alzheimer’s which is a terminal illness. The story opens with a death and I kept changing my mind about the circumstances which caused it (my doctor was ready to have me committed because I kept phoning him to enquire whether various death scenarios were feasible!).
Cape Town was in the throes of a terribly invasive heat-wave when I wrote the first ending so I quite fancied the thought of drowning, because the only time I felt comfortable was in the pool. I set up what I thought was a very poetic description of the dam in Silvermine Nature Reserve but no-one liked it. I’m not much of a poet, it seems…
Barbara may not think much of her poetry skills but her writing is simply wonderful...Below Luck Level is available from all good bookstores in May 2012.