(Looking For) The Heart of Shouting The Odds
I was an enthusiastic participant (as well as a casual observer) in the world I write about in my first novel, Shouting The Odds. During the mid-1990s, the period in which the book is set, my favourite artist was Tom Waits. His music and lyrics were a good fit for my working environment, because the ‘last chance saloon’ ambience prevalent in many of the betting shops I worked in, mirrored the low-brow world that inspired so many of his finest songs. The array of chancers, desperate dans and down on their luck desperados who inspired them shared much in common with the punters I took bets from each day at work.
One can find references to racing and betting throughout his lyrics, though the song ’Jockey Full of Bourbon,’ despite its intriguing title, isn’t one of them. Unlike the protagonist at the centre of the song ’Drunk on the Moon’; a ’cigar chewing charlie in a newspaper nest, grifting hot-horse tips on whose running the best.’ Or the love- smitten character from the song ’One From The Heart’, who ’goes down to the corner to buy a Racing Form, (though) I should probably wait in by the phone.’ The music of Tom Waits not only provided the soundtrack to my life during my betting shop past, his songs provided comfort during the tougher days, of which there were many.
An idea for an novel can come from the most unexpected of places, as can the influences upon ones writing. Sometimes we are not even conscious of where these ideas and influences that inspire us come from. A couple of years after writing Shouting The Odds, I re-read it. I thought about the story arc, the plot and the themes at the heart of the book. My young protagonist Andy falls in with a gang of outsiders & underdogs. A bond is formed, enabling him distraction from the feelings of loss, betrayal and heartbreak that have been threatening to engulf him. Ultimately, the open road ahead offers him the best way to escape his broken family ties in search of a better life. It struck me that Shouting The Odds came straight out of Tom Waits territory.
Had I not been tuned-in to Waits’ skill for writing so eloquently about life’s outsiders, underdogs and chancers, I may never have had the confidence to set my book in the ultimate ’last chance saloon’ - the high street betting shop. Belated thanks then Tom, for pointing me in the right direction – like Andy - out of the rainstorm and in through the betting shop door, where my novel begins.
#instagrammers
#booklover
#bookstagram
#instawriters
#tomwaits
One can find references to racing and betting throughout his lyrics, though the song ’Jockey Full of Bourbon,’ despite its intriguing title, isn’t one of them. Unlike the protagonist at the centre of the song ’Drunk on the Moon’; a ’cigar chewing charlie in a newspaper nest, grifting hot-horse tips on whose running the best.’ Or the love- smitten character from the song ’One From The Heart’, who ’goes down to the corner to buy a Racing Form, (though) I should probably wait in by the phone.’ The music of Tom Waits not only provided the soundtrack to my life during my betting shop past, his songs provided comfort during the tougher days, of which there were many.
An idea for an novel can come from the most unexpected of places, as can the influences upon ones writing. Sometimes we are not even conscious of where these ideas and influences that inspire us come from. A couple of years after writing Shouting The Odds, I re-read it. I thought about the story arc, the plot and the themes at the heart of the book. My young protagonist Andy falls in with a gang of outsiders & underdogs. A bond is formed, enabling him distraction from the feelings of loss, betrayal and heartbreak that have been threatening to engulf him. Ultimately, the open road ahead offers him the best way to escape his broken family ties in search of a better life. It struck me that Shouting The Odds came straight out of Tom Waits territory.
Had I not been tuned-in to Waits’ skill for writing so eloquently about life’s outsiders, underdogs and chancers, I may never have had the confidence to set my book in the ultimate ’last chance saloon’ - the high street betting shop. Belated thanks then Tom, for pointing me in the right direction – like Andy - out of the rainstorm and in through the betting shop door, where my novel begins.
#instagrammers
#booklover
#bookstagram
#instawriters
#tomwaits
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