From the Moors to the banks of the Clyde, novelist opens a new chapter

A trendy café in London’s colourful Soho on a sweltering summer’s afternoon is perhaps an unlikely place to meet the author of God’s Own Country, a widely-acclaimed debut novel set against the sparse, untamed backdrop of the North York Moors.

But the capital has been Ross Raisin’s home for the past few years, during which time he has gone from being a humble waiter to one of the most lauded young novelists of recent times, winning the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award in 2009 and heralded as one of the most exciting literary talents to emerge from these shores since Martin Amis.

This week sees the release of the 31 year-old’s much-anticipated follow-up, Waterline, the moving story of an ordinary man who, stricken by grief following the death of his wife, struggles to come to terms with the hard, unrelenting edges of modern life. The story revolves around Mick Little, a former Glasgow shipbuilder, and takes the reader on a journey from the banks of the River Clyde to crowded streets of London.

“I wanted to write about the journey of a homeless man and the most cliched shell of a homeless person I could think of was the rough-sleeping Glaswegian alcoholic, an often mocked and decried figure in TV and writing. I wanted to think about that stereotype as a real person and how he became this character,” explains Raisin, a former Bradford Grammar School pupil.

“It’s not really a plot-twister and part of the idea from the beginning was there would be a sense of inevitability about it which I wanted to plant in the reader’s head. I was also interested in a sense of place and industry and what happens when the industry leaves it and what this does to the people who live there, because shipbuilding is a totemic industry in west Scotland and the Clyde was the biggest shipbuilding centre in the world at one time.”

In God’s Own Country, he wrote in Yorkshire dialect, and Raisin adopts a similar style in Waterline, this time using the Glaswegian vernacular. As well as spending time in Glasgow researching the city’s shipbuilding heritage, he spent months studying local dictionaries and working with a voice coach to get the dialect right. “The closeness of the narrative to the main characters voice in both books meant to not use their language would have struck an odd note.”

Raisin spent three years writing Waterline, about the same length of time it took to complete God’s Own Country. But given the success of his debut did that create added pressure? “There was a certain amount of acclaim for my first book, but even now it seems silly and a bit odd, welcome and pleasant as it has been. But I don’t think I’ve ever taken it seriously although I did have struggles with Waterline and it would be untrue to say none of that was to do with pressure from the first one. I wrote God’s Own Country off my own back, nobody else wanted it or expected it, whereas with this one I’d been paid to write it so there is greater expectation.”

He admits there were times that he hit a brick wall. “You can’t just sit down and reel off page after perfect page you have to work at it and what I am still learning is that a lot of the process isn’t enjoyable. There is a lot of struggle and there are times when you feel insecure but that’s part of it.”

When it comes to writing, as any author worth their salt will tell you, there is no secret formula other than practice. “It’s never a eureka moment where you suddenly think ‘that’s the idea’ and you sit down and write the story,” says Raisin. “It’s usually more subtle and painful than that. It’s about finding the idea for a particular novel and finding a style that suits the idea and when you’ve got that you have the voice of that particular novel. When I finished Waterline I was happy with what I had produced and I do feel it’s a lot stronger than my first book, it’s more relevant and complex.”

Despite being feted by the publishing world and literary critics, up until a year ago Raisin still worked as a waiter at John Torode’s restaurant, Smiths of Smithfield. He says he misses the camaraderie and bustle of working in a busy restaurant. “There’s something about working a really busy shift and managing your tables that is very enjoyable. But also if I’d been writing 9 to 5 and it had not gone well and I was feeling a bit low I would forget it instantly when I went to work. I miss working in a team and having a bit of a laugh.”

He worked on the restaurant’s top floor which housed the fine dining area and provided the perfect opportunity to indulge in a spot of social observation. “There’s a certain social awkwardness about being in a restaurant that brings people out a little bit and makes them more interesting, especially when they’re drinking. It can make some people much less socially awkward or just very unpleasant sometimes, particularly if you’re working with the City boys,” he says.

“If you have a table of businessmen who are maybe with clients they unthinkingly feel they have to make themselves feel bigger. Quite often they like to show they’re a man of the people by having a bit of banter with the waiter and most of the time it’s absolutely fine and enjoyable. But one of the worst instances I ever had was when there was a group in and they asked me where I was from and when I said ‘near Bradford’ one of the businessmen said something flippant about the Bradford City fire disaster which was horrible and I immediately told him he was out of order and the other men at the table didn’t realise what was going on and it changed the atmosphere completely.”

Although Raisin has lived in London on and off for the past 13 years, he grew up in Silsden Moor, near Ilkley. “I used to read quite a bit, I liked horror novels, people like James Herbert, Dean Koontz and Stephen King started me off and then I got into Thomas Hardy and Graham Greene. One of my favourite books is The Return of the Native, the moor in the book is very dark there’s nothing wishy-washy about it and it has a presence throughout the novel which I liked.”

Despite this interest in books there was no burning desire to be a novelist from an early age. “I never had that thought ‘I want to be a writer’ and I still don’t think I have. I’ve wanted to write a particular book and then wanted to write another one.” After finishing university and deciding he wanted to write a book he enrolled on a creative writing course at Goldsmith’s College.

With God’s Own Country, his first attempt at a full-blown novel, he hit the ground running securing a lucrative two-book deal and bypassing the usual pile of rejection letters that often greet even the most gifted fledgling novelists.

Although he’s not lived in Yorkshire since he was 18 he still has a fondness for the place. “My wife’s from Northallerton and even though we don’t have plans to move back at the moment, I’d see us going back there at some point, I certainly hope so.”

Despite all the critical acclaim, Raisin is wary of the pitfalls of believing your own hype. “I think it’s better to do things step by step than have this big, pressurising career in front of you where you have to write X number of books and each one has to be brilliant and better than the last.”

In fact, he doesn’t even like to call himself a writer. “I still feel reticent to call myself that because it feels a bit naff. I think a lot of writers, not all, use it to try and sound impressive and I don’t feel that. Maybe there’s a certain part of me that thinks if you talk about it too much then you might chase it away. I can’t really do it now, but in the past I would usually say I’m a waiter when people asked what I did, because it was true.”

He’s recently started writing short stories and is enjoying the challenge of doing something a little different, not that he takes it for granted.

“There’s always that nagging feeling that you won’t be able to do it again. I never sit down and think ‘yes, I’ve nailed it, I know exactly what I’m doing.’ I always have to work for it and when I finish a book there’s no sense of tub-thumping euphoria, it’s more a sigh of relief.”

* Waterline, published by Viking, priced £12.99, is out in paperback from July 7. To order from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop call 0800 0153232 or online at www.yorkshirepostbookshop.co.uk

PORTRAIT OF AN AUTHOR

* Ross Raisin was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in 1979.

* He grew up in Silsden Moor, near Ilkley, and went to Bradford Grammar School.

* Among his early literary influences were Stephen King, Thomas Hardy and Graham Greene.

* He studied English at King’s College, London, and went on to study Creative Writing at Goldsmith’s College.

* His debut novel, God’s Own Country, drew widespread praise from literary critics and fellow authors including JM Coetzee and Colm Toibin.

* It took three years to write while he was working as a waiter. He has in the past also worked as a kitchen porter and been a wine bar manager.

Raisin was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2009 award.

* His second novel, Waterline, is published this week.