Ross O'Carroll Kelly author Paul Howard says that he spends his whole life with his creation's voice in his head and adds that his job is "essentially to sit in an office and think in the voice of an idiot for 10 hours a day."
Seedless in Seattle is the 15th Ross O'Carroll-Kelly instalment from Howard and between the best-selling book series, his weekly column in The Irish Times, and the successful stage plays about Ross and his adventures, not to mention the daily Twitter updates he writes in character, the fictional rugby legend is a huge part of Howard's life.
Speaking to RTÉ TEN's Sinead Brennan, Howard revealed that Ross has almost become like an imaginary friend to him, "He's in my head all the time, and because I work from home and because I'm alone all day, I've just got his voice in my head all the time, and it's a pretty insistent voice, it's a very obnoxious voice, that just sort of rattles around in there.
"I said to someone recently that my job, it's a very odd thing. It's essentially to sit in an office and think in the voice of an idiot for 10 hours a day. It's like he's shadowing me all the time."
Author Paul Howard says he goes about his daily business with @RossOCK's voice in his head http://t.co/IWw9jG6KK5 https://t.co/dvjV5xfeO4
— RTÉ TEN (@RTE_TEN) September 19, 2015
Rory Nolan as Ross O'Carroll-Kelly in the stage production Breaking Dad
Howard, who is very active as Ross on Twitter, added that social media's prominence has made his life a lot easier in terms of coming up with ideas, "I used to have to go and sit on the 46A bus, or pull up a bar stool in Kiely's of Donnybrook, and go out and look for them myself, and I did do that for a lot of ears, but it's funny because since then, social media has happened and people come to me with the stories, I don't have to go out and actively seek them any more."
In Seedless in Seattle, Rosser is now the proud father of triplets and of course they're named Johnny, Brian and Leo after Leinster and Ireland rugby players Johnny Sexton, Brian O'Driscoll and Leo Cullen. Howard added that this is the start of Ross becoming more and more like his dad, O'Carroll Kelly Sr.
"I think this has been evident from some time back that Ross is slowly morphing into his father," he told TEN. "Of course when he was a kid his dad would bring him out in the garden and throw the Gilbert rugby ball at him - Ross had about 10 concussions by the time he was 12 years of age - and his father was utterly convinced that Ross was going to play for Ireland," he said. "Will Ross make the same mistake with the triplets?"
Author Paul Howard
While Ross and the 'goys' may be great fun to write, it's Ross' daughter Honor that Howard enjoys developing the most. "She's my favourite character to write, I love writing Honor . . . I originally thought she would be this little princess, just like Sorcha was, but then I thought it would be far more interesting to give her the worth of both parents' qualities, instead of the best, so I thought, 'What if she has Sorcha's princess complex and Ross' utter obnoxiousness?' That would make her much more interesting. And also there's a karmic thing as well, she's the universe's revenge on Ross for treating his parents the way he does."
