Paul Dalton
After completing an art degree, Paul Dalton got a job in a bookshop and then a library. His storytimes were legendary. Through his writing, he explores climate change and the questions that go with it. He set his novel in the present day, as climate change is a story for now, not the future. He puts jokes in his writing as sometimes all you can do is laugh. ‘Don’t Go To Work, The World Is Ending,’ is out May 25th with Indie Novella.
Paul can be found at:
Website: pauldalton.co.uk
Instagram: @pauldalton_
BlueSky: @p-dalton.bsky.social
Tell me what inspired you to write your debut novel?
Like a lot of people, I spend a lot of my time thinking about climate change and have come to the conclusion that only normal people can fix it. The trouble is, that normal people don’t feel like they have the power to do so. So I thought, why not write a story about some normal people actually getting to fix a problem?
What came first, the characters or the world?
Characters but it’s all linked. A good world should be a character in its own right.
How long did it take to write?
About 2 years, but that includes about 9 months of rewrites with the publisher.
Do you have a writing playlist? If so do you want to share it?
It’s the album ‘Pink Flag’ by Wire. It’s post-punk perfection. It’s only 30 minutes long so I must have listened to it thousands of times.
What kind of reactions have you had to your book?
Surprise mainly, I didn’t tell too many people about it until I had a publisher interested.
What can you tell us about your next book?
It’s early days but: Dracula. Fascism. Christopher Lee.
Which genres do you read yourself?
Anything with a good hook for fiction and as widely as possible with non-fiction.
Don’t Go To Work, The World Is Ending
What will always distract you?
I don’t get distracted, I get temporarily inspired.
What were your favourite childhood books?
The Pongwiffy books. A smelly witch and a Dutch hamster, what’s not to love? Honourable mention for Bill’s New Frock and Harry the Poisonous Centipede.
Do you have any rituals when writing?
Does listening to the same 30 minutes of music on repeat count?
How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?
Only about 5 at the moment but that’s because the other 30 are in a drawer where I can’t see them so I don’t get guilty.
What is your current or latest read?
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt. Which is surprisingly compelling, like a non-fiction 1984
and finally, what inspired you to write the genre you do?
I think fantasy suits big ideas. Humans have always used fantasy to try and understand the big stuff. Gods and monsters and all that, is just an attempt to process the things that don’t make sense. I like to write about the things that don’t make sense, which, unfortunately, includes climate change.