David Long
Well-received by reviewers and readers alike, David Long’s engaging, imaginative and well-informed books reflect an unquenchable thirst for those events and personalities that illuminate the past. These have been translated into more than two dozen languages and won multiple awards.
An author and writer since leaving a first class university with a second class degree, during 25 years as a journalist his work appeared in the Daily Mail, the Sunday Times and in countless magazines in Britain and abroad. Whilst a columnist on the Sunday People, he created a popular cartoon strip which ran for several years in the weekend edition of the Times.
David Long has ghostwritten books for other authors – one of which won the Independent Publisher’s Book Award – and for publishers in Britain and the US. Under his own name he continues to write the kind of stuff he likes to read – for adults as well as children.
David can be found at:
Website: davidlong.info
Bluesky: @writerdavidlong.bsky.social
Tell me what inspired you to write your (debut) book?
I’d been a journalist and then ghost writer since university so it seemed natural to attempt something longer and more emphatically my own.
What came first the characters or the world?
I write non-fiction, mostly history, so there are plenty of characters but I can’t pretend to have given them life.
How hard was it to get your first (debut) book published?
It was easy, I was very fortunate, but this hasn’t been the case with all the subsequent ones
Bizarre Scotland
How long did it take to write?
Honestly I can’t remember so I usually say several months on the back of research which took several years.
Do you have a writing playlist? If so do you want to share it?
No, I can’t work to music which is odd because when I was a journalist I always had something (classical) on in the background.
How many publishers turned you down?
One, as I say I was lucky.
What kind of reactions have you had to your book?
Mixed, inevitably, although it is interesting how many adults like to criticise whereas children ignore books they don’t like and only speak to the author if they have something nice to say.
What’s the favourite reaction you’ve had to your book?
Oh, so many but I appeared on Blue Peter a few years ago and one of the children in the studio told me his mother had to confiscate my book SURVIVORS every night to ensure that he went to sleep.
What can you tell us about your next book?
It harks back to my previous occupation.
Do you take notice of online reviews?
Yes but I try not to. I’ve almost 70 books out there, in more than 30 languages, so reviewers are bound to take a pop at one every now and then.
Would you ever consider writing outside your current genre?
Sure, I’ve had a novel on the backburner for so many years that the backburner might as well be switched off.
What did you do before (or still do) you became a writer?
Writing has always been my sole occupation.
Which author(s) inspire you?
Writers who teach me something I didn’t know providing they have a clear writing style and keep up the pace. I’m impressed by the ones who turn enormous amounts of information into something which is readable and easy to understand.
Which genres do you read yourself?
More history than anything, and literally about any era depending on my mood.
What is your biggest motivator?
I like writing and get irritable if I have too many days away from my desk. It’s also how I make a living.
What will always distract you?
Lunch with old friends, and my wife’s holiday plans.
How much (if any) say do you have in your book covers?
It’s not my forte so although my opinion is always sought I very rarely disagree with the editor’s choice.
The World’s Most Magnificent Machines
Were you a big reader as a child?
Yes.
What were your favourite childhood books?
Too many to list here, but I always recommend EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES because it has stayed with me.
Do you have a favourite bookshop? If so, which?
No, but I am fascinated and so impressed by the efforts and expertise of so many independents. The best go to such enormous lengths to broaden their appeal – and deserve our thanks as readers and writers.
What books can you not resist buying?
I’m a sucker for anything by Roloff Beny because I like colour photography in foreign parts showing how they looked when I first went in the 1960s and early 1970s with my parents.
Do you have any rituals when writing?
Not really but I tend to work very regular hours, beginning at about 7.30 in the morning and with more reading than writing after lunch.
How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?
Never more than one or two. I can’t bear having a pile and actively resist buying a book until I am ready to read it.
What is your current or latest read?
BLACK SEA by Neal Ascherson.
Any books that you’re looking forward to in the next 12 months?
I’ve been waiting since 2015 for a new novel by Piers Paul Read but have no idea whether or not it’s coming.
Any plans or projects in the near future you can tell us about?
Not that I can share yet. I’m superstitious about saying anything much until the first line is written.
Any events in the near future?
Same.
and finally, what inspired you to write the genre you do?
I find history endlessly fascinating, I have done since school, and it’s such a rich seam to mine that I can’t imagine not doing it.
