Spalding’s Russell Dumper holds event in town library to mark launch of Britannia Rises

After two decades of opening soul destroying rejection letters and fighting urges to quit, novelist Russell Dumper staged his first public book signing.

It was a case of perseverance finally paying off at Spalding Library last Tuesday as a healthy crowd listened to an extract from dystopian debut Britannia Rises before getting the opportunity to grill the candid first-time author.

“I was extremely nervous, but let’s hope I have to get used to this sort of thing,” joked the 45-year-old, who told the audience how growing up in the town helped inspire his first published novel, which he described as ‘20 years in the making’.

“I’ve had lots of rejection letters. Lots,” he explained.

“I was close to giving up several times because taking that amount of rejection day after day, week after week, year after year is draining. It really is.

“But the reality was that it wasn’t good enough and that’s why it was getting rejected.

“I had to understand you can make an improvement, change that outcome and work towards that.”

Years of conflicting feedback from editors, tutors and proofreaders only added to the frustration for Russell, who explained that taking a necessary step back from the pressures of regular writing and searching for a book deal helped change his perceptions of the craft.

“When my kids came along, my eldest is 10, I didn’t have the time or energy to do anything with the books for five or six years,” said Russell, dad to Lucas and Jacob.

“Then when I came back to it I was a better writer. Whether that’s being a father, life experience or a break and coming back to do my own writing organically, I don’t know.

“Writing’s not my great love anymore. My great love is my children. It was nice when they came along as this stopped being my focus for all my dreams, because all of a sudden I cared more about them and maybe the pressure came off?

“I was also getting a lot of conflicting feedback. I wasn’t sure what to do for a long time, until I decided to ignore it all and concentrate on what I enjoyed.”

The multi-character plot of Britannia Rises, planned to be the first in an eight-part series, unfolds in a near-future British Empire which is looking to maintain its stranglehold on global affairs following the death of its monarch.

Russell generously says the parallels between his story – the foundations of which were formed while learning about the Hapsburg dynasty in history lessons at Spalding Grammar School – and the current Royal Family piqued the interest of publishers

Whether it was a case of right time, right plot or not, Russell’s success has been more-than earned.

The Produce Logistics shift manager works alternate 12-hour shifts with wife Anna – who had to ask friends to record her husband’s first public reading – meaning writing and research has to be shoehorned in between childcare, housework, snatched family time and the occasional chance to sleep.

“We’re quite tired, but if you really want to do something then you have to do it,” explained Russell, who admits there’s a part of his brain which never really switches off working on ideas and plotlines.

“A lot of stories I plan come from me thinking ‘I wonder what would happen if this happened?’ A lot of the time a story or subplot builds from there.

“It can take months or years for that germination to grow into a story.

“I’ve got a massive file full of notes. I will have an idea when I’m in the shower, going to sleep or doing some potatoes at work.

“I’ll yank my phone out my pocket and write down an idea, a story, something a character does, how to change a scene. Some are big ideas, some tiny ideas. They just pop into my heads.

“I don’t remember what it’s like not to have that happening in the back of my brain. It never ends. A hundred times a day Anna will ask me something and have to ask me again as I’m thinking about an idea.”

Russell’s love of books (“I can happily sit down with Crime and Punishment or the Bourne Identity… the only one I’ve ever struggled with is Voltaire”) from his dad Eric, his keenest supporter and regular proofreader.

But a former grammar school staff member also played his part in Russell’s journey.

“There was a teacher called Dave Wheeler who really encourage my writing,” he recalls.

“He sadly died a few years ago. I was hoping to be able to get him a copy. I remember him giving me such positive feedback.

“But my dad introduced me to books when I was young and I’ve never known what it was like to not be writing. I used to write the stories and draw pictures of monsters when I was little.

“I remember taking exercise books from school and just writing stories.”

Russell is currently writing the fourth book in the Britannia series, but his next release is scheduled to be a standalone novel about a world in the grip of a pandemic, but ‘very different to what we’ve been used to’.

Britannia Rises (RRP £10.99) is published by The Conrad Press. It is available in Spalding’s Bookmark and can also be ordered from Amazon and all good bookshops. ISBN: 978-1915494795.