Ron Corbett

A former radio host and newspaper columnist, Ron Corbett’s first book of fiction was Ragged Lake, the debut novel in the Frank Yakabuski mystery series, and an Edgar Award nominee for Best Original Paperback.

The father of four, Corbett is married to award-winning photo-journalist Julie Oliver and still lives in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada, where he writes the Yakabuski stories from the study of a century-old house, “not far from a good river.”

Corbett's new novel is Cape Rage.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

This is an interesting question because Cape Rage was not the working title for this book. It had a longer, more literary title, and I’m not going to tell you what it was. I’ll see if you can guess it. I believe you can. There are enough clues in the book. It’s a line from a Bob Dylan song – from "Brownsville Girl" – and the line is right in the book. I thought it was a powerful line, what a person will do in the name of revenge, and the book started with that title, the very first thing, that freaking title, so when my publisher said, Ron, uh umm, don’t know how to say this, but, we, how do we say this politely, -- we hate it – I was shocked. Who was it that gave that writing advice -- the first thing you need to do is kill your babies? I thought I understood that expression, but I really didn’t. Not until the debate over the title of this book. In the end, I came to understand the only people that would truly understand the original title would be me, and people who had finished reading the book. But that’s not the purpose of a title. A good title should tell you something about what you’re going to read. And Cape Rage does a much better job of that. It tells you that place is going to be important to the story. It tells you that violence and anger and vengeance is going to be part of the story. And it’s a title I came up with, so I’m happy with it.

What's in a name?

I did give a lot of thought to the name Danny Barrett. I have two series going, the other being the Frank Yakabuski mysteries, which are set on the Northern Divide, in Canada. The Divide is a real place, which I have fictionalized, but I’ve kept many of the real details, including that there are many people of Polish descent up there, including my detective. Yakabuski is a common name along the Divide, and in the Ottawa Valley – which is not that far from where I live. So, when I started the other series, I wanted a simpler name. I wanted hard consonants. I wanted a first name that could be a diminutive. I played around with all that and came up with Danny Barrett. An interesting thing about that name, and which I’m looking forward to playing around with later – it’s his undercover name. It’s not his real name. The reveal on that will come in a later book.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

I think my teenage self would be surprised I didn’t get away with the Dylan title. I don’t think much else would be a surprise. I have always loved mysteries, and adventure stories. I am still reading those stories. I am lucky enough to now be writing those stories.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

This is another question, like your first, that has some background to it. These are some interesting questions. A bit out of the norm. I almost always start with the ending of a story, and then work backwards. In the first Danny Barrett book, The Sweet Goodbye, one of the final scenes, the one with Travis Lee and Pearl Lafontaine, that was the first thing I wrote. In the first Frank Yakabuski book, Ragged Lake, the first thing written was the final scene, almost the final line. Most of my novels have been like this, and if not the final scene, some scene well into the book. The one exception is Cape Rage, which started with an early scene, one of the villains being shot in the back and left for dead in the woods, although he’s not dead, and that starts the revenge plot. The problem with starting with an ending is you need to back it all up – it’s like pushing a car uphill. There must be an easier way. I say that a million times while writing a novel. I tend to come up with scenes and then need to stitch them together. I envy people who envision stories from beginning to end. I envision scenes and then need to connect them.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I think Danny Barrett is a world apart. I could never be an undercover police officer. Although he’s like a lot of characters I love reading about. I’ve spent a lot of time reading. That’s part of a writer’s life. Does that count? Frank Yakabuski would be a little closer, mostly because he lives and works in places I would recognize and feel comfortable in. I could be in a canoe with Frank. I could be in a tavern with Frank. I’m pretty sure I’ve met Frank.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I’ve already mentioned Dylan. I think he’s shown everyone how to be a true artist. True Gen as Hemingway used to say. That would be another inspiration, although obviously literary. I guess Dylan, with that Nobel, would have to be called literary as well. My wife, Julie Oliver, is a photojournalist from Belfast. She’s my rock and I’d be nowhere without her. I have four children, all of whom I love and love me and that blows my mind, how lucky I am it turned out that way. I was a journalist for 30 years, but journalism died and that makes me sad. I’m still looking for the one true sentence. It's out there. All this inspires me.

Visit Ron Corbett's website.

--Marshal Zeringue