People always want to know where the ideas come from, this is something that authors (especially successful ones) mention a lot, sometimes in a dismissive way. However, I think it’s a valid question for any book: for every story, something has fired a spark somewhere in the authors brain—so what was that ‘something’?
I can’t say too much here in case of spoilers, but I do think it’s fair to share a few stories about the stories. So, if you’re interested in that sort of thing then I’ll leave these here, although they’re by no means exhaustive (well, I’ll have to save something to talk about if anyone ever decides to interview me).
Joey by David
The first version of this story was written a very long time ago, somewhere between 1996 and 98—in what felt like an entirely a different lifetime.
I think the spark for this one was reading a true crime article about a murder, where one child had seemingly carried out a premeditated murder on another child a few years before, and they hadn’t shown or felt any remorse for what they’d done. They genuinely seemed to believe the murder hadn’t been their fault; someone or something else made them do it. It sounded like a severe disassociation. After all, we all know people who spend their lives blaming everyone else for the bad things, dont we?
Dissassociation isn’t a new idea. Robert Bloch wrote Psycho in the 1950s and dissasociative behaviour was at the heart of that, so could it be possible to speak about that in the voice of a child? After all, if the traumas that lead to that kind of behaviour mostly begin in childhood, surely it wouldn’t be too far off the mark to speak about their beginnings with a child’s voice?
Maybe I’m going too deep here, as all I really wanted to do was just write a creepy story that kept you guessing til the end – but I thought those points were valid just the same.
Joey by David is technically a short story, but I wanted to do a trial run on independent publishing before I released my first book, so this was my initial learning experience of how the system and the software worked. Im glad I did it, I learned a lot. And the story had proven itself a popular read in itself.
Club Medusa
I’ve written a short essay at the end of Club Med to explain where it came from, why it took so long from first version to get into print and why I blame Harry Potter for stealing all my kudos at the time of writing. But thats another story…
But briefly, this was a short idea I came up with when I was writing my first ever batch of short stories which was set in my favourite part of Edinburgh and featured some characters and a payoff that I thought seemed like a bit of horrifying fun.
Because it really lived alongside a bunch of other short stories I originally tried to sell it all as a collection and for one reason or another, it didn’t go anywhere. Then life happened, work, relationships, kids were born, blah blah blah… Long story short, it ended up sitting in a pile for quite a few years, although my wife always maintained that the story should have been a book in its own right.
Then when I finally had a change of career and decided to do writing seriously, I revisited all my old stuff to see if there was anything worth reviving before I went to work on the newbies.
On re-reading my older stories. Club Medusa and Joey by David both leapt out at me from the rest. So, these became the starters for ten, as they were already written, although by no means polished to the level they are now.
The idea of two friends having a disastrous night out came from many of my own experiences, which are probably similar to many other Edinburgh folk of a certain age and inclination. I have many memories of fantastic nights out in the old town, often spent in the cave-like clubs and labyrinths under the city streets, with great music and good friends. Although, probably like everyone else, I also had some nights out I’d rather forget. So I wondered, what’s the worst night out you could ever have? Club Medusa is my answer to that question.
Accent Reds – Club Medusa II
“What I remember happening next made no sense…”
I was very pleased to receive the feedback I did for Club Med, but what I wasn’t prepared for were the number of requests for a sequel. So, although I had plans for other books, as soon as I managed to get my head together after the awful first six months that everyone seemed to have in 2020, I settled on a few ideas that I thought would work well, whilst also keeping the characters in dark and painful places. As you do with your characters.
The inspiration for the first chapter came from a combination of a few experiences. First was a night out in Leipzig, where my friend, Will, asked if I minded if we went into a ‘smoking bar’ for a beer, as he was a smoker. I don’t smoke myself, but I don’t mind too much when people do so I agreed. Smoking is prohibited in bars and indoor spaces in Germany, much like the rest of Europe. However I’ll never forget him opening this huge, heavy door, akin to something you might find in an underground bunker, and a wall of cigarette smoke literally falling out like dry ice. “They don’t much care about the smoking ban in here.” he said.
And even though I’m tolerant of smoke, I remember feeling queasy very shortly after going in. Thats where I came up with the idea of a ‘Marlboro fog’. This was the interior of the bar I had in mind. And if I’m remembering right, there was s sticky carpet that led to the bathrooms and a fire exit out the back.
The opening scene with the character walking out of the park and across Oriangierstrasse in East Berlin came to me because I did the same thing on a Berlin trip, and was stopped in my tracks by the sight of the huge TV tower at the far end of the street. I took some photos and I think also some video footage.
In the book though, the character goes into a smokey pub across the road, which, if you ever go to East Berlin looking for the place, you’ll only find a very nice cafe with seats out the front.
And then, as stories do, one thing led to another and the ideas I had rattling in my head all began to connect up—and I was off.
One thing I will say about Accents Reds though is that the entire book is about one third of what I intended to be the sequel. The story continues well after the last scene, and will be released as book three just as soon as I’m happy with it. The reason for this is purely because, if I published everything I wrote in the one volume, it would be a thicker book than Frank Herbert’s Dune—and thats just not viable for independent publishing.
The Fear Aesthetic – Club Medusa III
This picks up an hour or two after Accent Reds finishes. I can’t say too much about this right now as it needs some some heavy editing to bring it down to publishing friendly size, but it is written, and it will be coming soon.
And also, it takes the insanity of the Club to a whole new level…