Lake Wylie author publishes 8th book

When Dick Barnes retired from chemical industry sales, he volunteered at a jail and a literacy group in Gaston County. Teaching math and reading and GED courses, he enjoyed interacting with clients and learning as he taught.

When his volunteer jobs fizzled, Barnes turned to woodworking, making furniture for his River Hills home. But he needed something more.

“I enjoyed volunteering, but I wasn’t really needed after a while,” he said. “I decided I wanted to take a course in something.”

He settled on classes in English, then short story writing. He joined a writers group in Rock Hill and he started getting story ideas.

Richard Whitten Barnes started writing mysteries and historical fiction. He recently published his eighth book, “Enemies,” a story about German and Canadian soldiers who meet 50 years after the end of World War I.

A photo of his father-in-law represents the German soldier on the book cover, while a teenaged great-uncle of a friend portrays the Canadian soldier. Despite the title of the book, the soldiers’ lives intersect unexpectedly five decades after the war ended.

The book is set in St. Joseph Island in northern Ontario, Canada, just east of Sault Saint Marie. Barnes sometimes holds book signings there, where he has many readers.

“I’m surprised how many readers are from York County, but many are from Canada where we vacation,” Barnes said.

Book publishing has changed in recent years, he said. Gone are the days when authors submit a manuscript to publishers, then wait for acceptance or rejection. But he did find a publisher beyond the self publishing route often used today. His first two submissions were accepted by Wings-Press.com.

“Indie publishers are demanding,” he said of his independent publisher. They don’t accept just anything, and their choosiness helps combat the stigma that remains around the so-called “vanity press.”

While not as big as Random House or Penguin, these publishers provide new works to readers who might not otherwise see print, he said.

“That’s a leap, to have a publisher,” he said.

Still, much of the publicity and marketing of his books falls to Barnes.

“Marketing is really a bane,” he said, noting use of social media and special events helps. “Word-of-mouth is a very slow process. I sell a lot of my books at events.”

But it all begins in a quiet room of the Lake Wylie house he and wife Marg built in 1980.

“I come in here to write and listen to classical music,” he said. “I try to keep writing until the thing is over.”

Then he re-reads, revises and polishes. Barnes’ writing routine begins with a pad and paper.

“I have to write in longhand to start with,” he said. “I like the physical act of writing longhand.”

Once he has his story drafted, he transfers his words to a computer, where he fine tunes, cuts and pastes, and generally gets the manuscript ready for publication. Readers can download his books from Amazon or Barnes’ website for electronic reading or choose print-on-demand for a paper copy.

He enjoys preparing to write as well.

“If you like to research, it’s a joyous part of the process,” Barnes said. “Writing a good mystery or historical fiction, you have to research.”

For example, Barnes had to learn about poisons and symptoms for one novel. His background in chemistry didn’t hurt in that respect, he said.

“All you ever do is writing-related,” his wife said.

She would like to see him pen a children’s book. When their children were little, he often made up stories about “Fred the Furnace” or the lamppost to relieve scary childhood threats.

“Some of those stories were pretty good,” he said.

So far he’s turned out eight books in roughly eight years.

“I really like writing,” Barnes said. “I wish I had started in my 20s.”

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 10:26 AM with the headline "Lake Wylie author publishes 8th book."