Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest Kirk WardRobinson, the acclaimed author of Ridley Speaks, the latestinstallment in the gripping Speaks Saga.

With a narrative steepedin the struggles and resilience of life in the Appalachian South,Ridley Speaks explores themes of poverty, addiction, family, andredemption, all through the eyes of the unforgettable Ridley Speaks.

Robinson’s masterfulstorytelling, vivid characters, and heartfelt realism have earned himwidespread praise and a dedicated following. Beyond his writing,Robinson is an avid hiker and cyclist who draws inspiration from hisexperiences exploring the natural world and diverse Americanlandscapes.

Join us as we delve intothe mind of this remarkable author to uncover the stories behind theSpeaks Saga, his creative process, and what readers can expect fromthis extraordinary novel.

Norm: Good day Kirk andthanks for taking part in our interview.

Kirk: De nada

Norm: With 15 novelsand memoirs under your belt, how has your writing process evolvedover the years?

Kirk: Well, that’sactually a huge question. I started out as a kid seeing stories in mymind, but I didn’t really have the vocabulary yet to do anythingwith them, except for The Pirates of Dublin, which I wrotewhen I was ten in McAllen, Texas.

Sadly, that handwrittenmanuscript was lost after we moved to Houston right after the Apollo11 landing. After that, I dabbled in essays and short stories duringmy married years.

It wasn’t until after Ithru-hiked the AT for the first time in 2001 that I made the decisionto quit everything and write fulltime.

Since then, I haveconsciously improved my craft, often wincing at some of my earlierwork. I read profusely, sometimes five or six books per month, whichI think all authors of fiction must.

Norm: Ridley Speaksis your third book in the Speaks Saga. What inspired you to continueexploring the lives of the Speaks family?

Kirk: Timewall wassupposed to be a standalone novel, what I described as an Appalachiancross between Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone and Ehrenreich’sNickel and Dimed.

I hiked through a town onHike 3 that I’d never been to before and I was stunned by thebackwardness and despondency of the place.

After Timewall, Icontinued to wonder about his mother, Blaize. How did she get thatway? What was going on in impoverished Appalachia to create a personlike her?

That was the genesis ofBlaize, and after completing that manuscript, I realized that therewas still more of the story to tell.

Norm: Ridley is such acomplex and resilient character. How did you develop her voice andpersonality throughout the story?

Kirk: This will probablybe disappointing, but Ridley just popped into my mind. There are sometraits in her that I borrowed from a young woman I met on Hike 4, butfor the most part, I think I asked myself:

If I had a daughter inthose circumstances, what would I want her to be like? Ridley is ateenaged girl with the same pressures all teenagers suffer, but shehas the added burden of her upbringing.

It helped that I hadfamily, now long deceased, who lived in the Appalachian Mountains soI was able to borrow much from those memories. Cousin Leslie inBlaize is a case in point. 

The rest was me speculating how a girlwith her character would evolve and react.

Norm: Themes ofpoverty, addiction, and family secrets are central to Ridley Speaks.How do you balance such heavy themes with hope and resilience in yourwriting?

Kirk:Well, Ridley speaks to that. I agonized over some scenes, andyes, shed a few tears.

But that mantra, Somepeople are too soft to live in this world... is real and present whenyou have experience with that region, and people must be able toovercome depravity or else life is just a waste of effort.

Norm:  Ridley’sjourney to California begins with optimism but quickly descends intohardship. What message did you hope to convey through her strugglesin Nashville?

Kirk: To be tough. To beresilient. To understand that your hopes are yours to keep, not to betaken away by others or circumstances.

Norm: Blaize Speaks isportrayed as a fierce yet deeply flawed mother. How did you approachwriting such a multifaceted character?

Kirk: I knew that shewould have once been an innocent girl, as all little children are,but that she had been assaulted by a system that had stolen herability to love overtly.

And yet she cares, shejust has difficulty showing it, while also fighting to protectherself from further harm.

She is also incrediblysmart. Her descent from innocence, what I call the spark, is wellknown to her but she feels she has no alternative if she is to lookafter the people she cares about, mainly her children and Joss.

Norm: What challengesdid you face in weaving vignettes from Ridley’s past into thepresent-day narrative?

Kirk: Continuity errors.Good grief, that was tough, and Priscilla (52,000 words as oftoday) is even harder.

Alsodetermining where Ridley’s mind was so that the flashbacks wouldfit both plot wise and emotionally. 

Norm: The #MeToomovement is echoed in the novel's depiction of exploitation. Howmuch did current events influence the themes of Ridley Speaks?

Kirk: Every one of thebooks explores a social inequity in our society, and this wasRidley’s inequity to confront. The #MeToo movement gaveRidley her voice and determination.

Norm: Ridley’s poetryand songwriting play a significant role in her survival and identity.How did you approach writing her creative works, and do they reflectyour own views on art and expression?

Kirk: Uhm...I enjoy goodpoetry but can’t tell you why it’s good. I was so afraid thatwhat I wrote was terrible that I begged my editor to be honest withme:

If the stuff was terrible,please don’t let me humiliate myself. But this was crucial forRidley because this was how she could express herself honestlywithout baring herself to others.

It was the same with hermusic, which is why she didn’t like to perform for others.

Norm: Your writing hasbeen praised for its wit and grit. How do you achieve that balance inyour prose?

Kirk: Dark moment, lightmoment. There is some disturbing stuff going on in Ridley’s world,so there had to be a comic balance otherwise readers would become toodepressed.

It helps that I know somereally eccentric people whom I have been able to draw from,notwithstanding Willie Tailor.

Norm: Where can ourreaders find out more about you and your novels?

Kirk: My Website, my Amazon page, or GoodReads.

Norm: Can we expectmore from the Speaks Saga in the future, or do you have otherprojects on the horizon?

Kirk: I am working onPriscilla now. I plan one more novel in the Saga, TheFamily Speaks, although my editor would like me to extend itfurther.

I think five novels willend it, though. I have another AT thru-hike I want to start on, and anew standalone novel that popped into my head just today.

Norm: As we wind up ourinterview, what advice would you give to aspiring authors looking totackle challenging subjects in their work?

Kirk: Be as honest andauthentic as your vocabulary will allow, and try to give your readersa way to avert their eyes during the worst parts.

Follow Here To ReadNorm's Review of Ridley Speaks.