To
celebrate the publication of Staying Home, I’m going to give away e-copies of
all three books in the series so far. To enter all you need to do is comment
below or retweet the post on twitter.
About
the series
I’d written two and a half of the
stories in this series before I realised what they had in common. The first
story, originally called There’s No Place
Like Home didn’t become part of the series - it seems older men aren’t the
thing. But I got permission to rewrite and I’m hoping to find a new home for
Phil and Sion’s story – but I digress.
Choosing
Home started life as
a Torchwood fanfiction, which I planned but didn’t write. I had the idea for a
story with an ex footballer driving down the A1M from Northumberland. Why is it
that ideas always come when you’re driving or in bed? Luckily, I had someone to
write down my thoughts and, by the time we got home, I had the characters and a
basic story. It’s why Seth is Welsh and Zac Scottish. I decided to set the
story in one of my favourite parts of the world, on the Moray coast, and there
is an old, now empty house, on the coast that provided the perfect inspiration
for the hotel Zac owns.
I chose football for two reasons.
Firstly, I’m a lifelong fan of the beautiful game and secondly, I’d watched a
documentary about the lack of out gay footballers made by Amal Fashanu, the
niece of Justin Fashanu, and the
daughter of John Fashanu, both footballers. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bncfg
For those of you who don’t know,
Justin Fashanu came out while playing, but ended up committing suicide. With
this background, it’s hardly surprising no footballer has come out while
playing since, especially when you consider the speculation around some players.
In that documentary, the only current footballer who agreed to speak to her was
Joey Barton, who, for all his faults, has always been a someone who’s supported
LGBT in sport. Another documentary is coming out soon made by Stephen Byrne for
Irish television, and again it appears people were reluctant to talk to him. https://www.joe.ie/sport/stephen-byrnes-playing-straight-documentary/567333
The idea for Zac’s experience came from the
first documentary. His coming out, and helping Seth deal with his own issues
around self-worth and guilt, not to mention dealing with his physical issues, form
the core of their story.
Returning
Home started as a
separate story, based on a photograph showing a thin, bare-chested, tattooed
man, holding a big, long haired cat up in his hands while lying in a bed, with
flowery covers and tiny trolls and gonks on the window sill. I wrote a turning
point scene at midnight, one day, and didn’t go back to it for a while. Originally,
I intended to place it in another part of Scotland and then, having been asked
for a series, worked out how I could move it and link the main characters in
this story - who became Darach and Brice - to the first story. The link is admittedly
tentative for that reason. Darach was always going to be a policeman, and had a
sister who ran a café. He’d returned home after breaking up with his boyfriend,
and the story was set near Plockton, in Hamish Macbeth country. Now, moved to the Moray coast, this is where Bryce parks to watch the seals.
Brice’s mysterious
back story came out of that scene. I needed him to be flawed. I needed him to
be in danger, but not merely a victim. Writing someone who uses a wheelchair,
but is independent, was challenging. Although, I have some understanding of
physical limitation, and have had to use a chair myself in hospital, I did have
to do more research. I discovered there were pottery wheels specifically made
for people in wheelchairs as well as discovering more about spinal injuries. This
story was always going to have a death, as Brice’s danger had to be real. The link to the third story only came after the
story had been completed. I had to write in more about Sam Carmichael, in the
redraft.
It was when I’d finished this second
story, that the fact they dealt with men coming home struck me, as well as the
tag line, that even if you tried to escape, you brought your baggage with you –
hence you couldn’t escape from yourself.
Staying
Home features Sam
Carmichael, the middle of the five Carmichael
brothers who is a Church of Scotland minister. I took a risk writing about
someone who is closeted and religious. Religion fascinates me. I’m not a
believer myself, but I love religious history, and was head of Religious
education. I wanted to show how the Church in Scotland has been forward
thinking – they have had women ministers since the 1960s and this year voted to
allow same-sex marriages for ministers. Sam’s belief is central to his
character and his experience. He derives strength from his God. As well as that,
he threw me a huge curve ball I wasn’t sure I could tackle in the middle of one
night. His choice not mine. Tosh was simpler, but again I worried about writing
a romance for someone who had lost his husband in tragic circumstances. I know
some people won’t like this, but life goes on, and I like to think Harry, Tosh’s
husband, would have approved.
Will there be a fourth book? I have an
idea for Hamish and Cameron so we’ll see.
So,
my giveaway. I have a set of all three stories to give away in PDF or EPuB. All
you need to do to enter the competition is comment below. Only those who
comment on this blog or retweet my blog post tweet, will be included.
I hope you enjoy the series and, if
you don’t win, give the stories a try. Thanks to everyone who have already
bought, read and commented, whatever your view.
Links
