(WT) The Magdon Generations – paradox

I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours appreciating my surroundings. One of the positives of my job is seeing the nighttime world. There is nothing quite as beautiful as city lights at night……that is until you see the lightless countryside with a blanket of stars shining high above.

And therein lies my paradox. I love the solitude of the countryside and the bright night lights of the city. But I like the city at night, when it’s eerily quiet and spookily alone (except for my colleague in the car) however I have always enjoyed seeing the city.

In truth, I always pictured the Michael Mann style city views of Miami Vice (yes I actually like that film) when I was thinking of how I wanted Footprints On The Other Side to look when I wrote it. As I’ve said before I am very much a visual writer, in so much that I like to see what I’m writing as it then lets me see what I’m writing and make sure it stays the right course.

I have learned however to also leave a little to the reader’s imagination. In Footprints On The Other Side it was my “debut” novel and I was very protective over the story. I gave you everything so you saw what I saw, experienced the descriptives as much as I could to make sure your imagery was the same and that wasn’t right. With The Magdon Series I adapted that, by condensing my overall length I forced myself to let the reader create from what I put.

It was different.

Which brings me back to the first point. Having spent all night in the bright lights of the city, awash with the glow of oranges, reds and whites I had a quick nap and then embarked on another walk with the children across the local fields and countryside. From that sterile built-up world not a few hours earlier I was now basking in the beauty of nature. Finding abandoned bridges in the middle of fields, long abandoned buildings and no longer used railway cuttings…..all that got me thinking.

I wrote Origins Of The Magdon very much in the past, I never wanted to feel the sterile city in the story but with Generations I want to mix the two. Bring an element of the then and now, the life and the isolation.

I can’t say how much the world influences my thinking. I spend so much time in the rush of life (the world passing by in shades of red and blue, whizzing by so fast I can;t see anything in detail) which is probably why I love writing. I can focus on that key moment, a face, a fact, an event or a moment and become it. I can make it my entire thought so nothing is missed until I write it.

I think that’s probably why I like writing! It’s funny I can have my pounding music in the gym then get into the car ad listen to rhythmic meditation music. One thing though…….I’ve always been that little bit withdrawn, away from people and focussed on my family….again perhaps another reason I create my false little worlds! But if it works.

But anyway here is some pictures from out and about, today and other days that have captured my imagination. I try and keep everything I do clean of stolen ideas but you know what, I can;t help but bastardise the world itself….there is so much that every person can see in the smallest detail that nobody can ever say the world is “just the same” or “nothing new”……look beyond that and see what’s behind the obvious.