Tony Parsons has entered his fifth reincarnation. Now a writer of crime novels featuring DC Max Wolfe, he is known for his time at the NME, as a newspaper and magazine columnist, as a regular on The Late Show, and as author of the trilogy starting with Man and Boy. Interviewer Dylan Jones, editor of GQ magazine, asked him why he kept reinventing himself. "I think everyone needs to reboot themselves once in a while," he replied. "We can't rely on anything being for ever. There is no guarantee."
When he decided on the incredibly competitive genre of crime, Parsons cashed in his life savings and took two years off to write the first of the series, The Murder Bag, with no assurance that it would be accepted by a publisher, or liked by the fans of his former self. Fortunately the book was a success and he has now published his fifth, Girl on Fire.
"Max Wolfe is not me, but he is an improved version of me," Parsons said.
"Growing up in the 1960s and '70s, I didn't know anyone with a career. I left school at 16, and didn't start writing until I was 22. I've learned that when you change direction, you need only one person to believe in you.
"In my novels, I believe in happy endings, but there has to be tears, grief and loss along the way."
Asked about the writing process, Parsons said he gave himself a task each day, for example to write 1,000 words or, every New Year's Day, to write the first sentence of the next novel.
"You are really only working when you are alone in your room and alone in your head."