Lorne Jackson talks to the Birmingham novelist who is now turning his hand to making music.

Most successful novelists have little trouble devising dazzling plots and dynamic characters.

But the situation can be a little duller when it comes to their own lives.

Gustave Flaubert was typical of the breed when he proclaimed: “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”

I’m not sure Roger Jon Ellory has taken much heed of Flaubert’s maxim.

The Birmingham author’s series of best-selling thrillers – which he writes under the name RJ Ellory – are certainly violent and original.

However, his life has also had its fair share of twists, turns and unexpected reveals.

Since his first novel was published in 2003, I’ve interviewed him on several occasions.

Each time there has been a book to promote, a true tale to tell.

At our first meeting, he told me his intriguing back-story.

Ellory’s mother was a television actress, but he was orphaned at an early age, and, with his older brother, was raised by his grandmother.

Her death, while both were teenagers, left the boys to fend for themselves, resulting in a conviction for poaching for Roger.

After a short period in prison, he settled down, though he lost touch with his brother, who had left Birmingham.

Ellory always enjoyed books, and, after many setbacks and rejections, released Candlemoth, his first novel.

The book put him on the literary map. But it did more than that. It led him to his brother, who had wandered into a bookshop, spotted his sibling’s novel, and decided to make contact.

That’s the kind of life Ellory leads.

Now for the update.

Yes, there is a new novel. Bad Signs. It’s excellent, as always. And, yes, there’s dramatic news in the author’s life.

He’s now a rock star. Well, sort of...

Ellory is singing in a band called The Whiskey Poets, and their EP, The Moonrise, is out now.

“I’d always wanted to do something musically,” the Bordesley Green scribe reveals.

“And it had got to the point where I thought, ‘If I don’t do it now, I’m never going to do it.’

“So I got together with a couple of musician friends, and we had a rehearsal in a local studio. Then we recorded a few tracks and put them together on a CD.

“We only really made the disc as a calling card, to introduce ourselves to potential bookers for gigs and small festivals.

“Then we put a website up, and people started e-mailing, asking how they could get the CD.

“So we’re now selling the music online. Everyday I’m getting orders from England, France, Germany, Italy, America and Holland. It’s not huge, just something we’ve produced ourselves.

“Yet the CDs are being sold at a rapid rate of knots. And we’re getting airplay on local radio as well.”

The Whiskey Poets perform American-style folk music, written by Ellory.

So how does crafting a song compare to honing a novel?

“Writing a song and recording it is rather like writing a chapter of a novel,” he says. “I imagine writing a whole album would be like putting a book together.

“The fundamental difference between creating music and a book is that the book is insular. It’s one person’s creativity.

“You sit by yourself in a room, then you have to wait a year for it to be published, and have an audience.”

“But with music you have that immediate feedback and engagement with an audience. It’s a different fix. I like doing both, although first and foremost I’m a writer.”