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| Rewan Tremethick |
I am delighted to introduce you to Rewan Tremethick who has very kindly agreed to do a guest blog post as part of his tour prior to the launch of his most recent book at the end of May. Rewan is an ex student of mine at the University of Winchester where he studied Creative Writing. I was lucky enough to supervise his final year project (dissertation).He would spend a lot of time in my office along with Sonney Stelling putting the world to writes [sics]. We had many a laugh but he was also a good student. Always listening to what I had to say, going away and working hard on his creative pieces. So It is with great joy that I hand my blog over to him. Well done Rewan and good luck
Writing
my way to self discovery. And biscuits.
I learned something rather important
about myself when I wrote Fallen on Good
Times. Originally, I had intended it to be a nice, straightforward
adventure. No subtext, no brain work, just something simple and easily
consumable, like the pulp magazines of the 1920s; the period in which the book
is set.
It was National Novel Writing Month: a
time of year that always gets writer types excited. It's the literary challenge
equivalent of running a marathon for anyone interested in using their legs.
Write 50,000 words in one month, no excuses. It doesn't have to be good - the
idea is just to get something out of your brain. Writers have a tendency to
avoid writing, which we're allowed to do, because we're artists. If after
several months, the people you had hired to build your home had only put two
bricks together, because they 'hadn't felt like building', you'd be outraged.
Writers, on the other hand, get away with it, hence the large kick up the
backside NaNoWriMo provides being rather useful to us.
For me, writing long pieces has never
been a problem. I take part in NaNoWriMo for the community. And also because it
presented a nice opportunity to get working on my new project - the paranormal
adventures of a private detective in 1920s America, down on his luck, looking
for something better (and less deadly) to do with his life. It was an action
book, and a comedy. You could laugh at it, and people got punched every now and
then. All good things.
But at the end of NaNo, I looked back
over it and realised it was too empty for me. I needed it to have some
substance. I wasn't aiming for ideas as astounding as Decartes 'I am thinking,
therefore I exist’, but I wanted the book to be something that made you do a
little bit of brain work. Rather like a pile of hot coals, or a porcupine, you
shouldn't be able to just hold it for several hours and then forget about it
forever. It should leave a mark on you.
Considering I originally started on Fallen on Good Times because I was
taking a break from the other ideas I was working on, which were much more
complex and thematic, this was a bit of a problem. I had succeeded in my goal -
make a straightforward book that would (hopefully) put a smile on some people's
faces and give them a happy way to while away a few hours. Yet I wasn't happy
with what I had produced.
Hence the moment of self-realisation.
It was a very quiet epiphany, the acknowledgement that I needed to tell stories
that had meaning, that said something. If they made a film of my life, they'd
have to crank up the drama somewhat, perhaps by having the realisation come to
me in a dream, then depicting me tearing up the pages of the manuscript,
shouting at befuddled relatives 'I need something more than this!' As it was, I
was alone in the living room at about 1.30 in the morning, which is when I tend
to do most of my deep thinking. I was probably eating biscuits; not as dramatic
though.
Perhaps that's why Mark Wilson from
Paddy's Daddy Publishing, and the other people so far who have read it and
enjoyed it, have liked it. It originally started out as a comic action romp. It
achieves that quite well, I think. There are plenty of Discworld-esque
characters and moments (my style of written humour has often been compared to
that of Messers Pratchett and Adams in the past), and some nice action
sequences. But what the rewrite added was a few layers of depth. It made the
book resonate more, created a stronger purpose for the story, and gave the book
something to say.
I never set out intending to ignore my
desire to create something that had depth and subtext, I just hadn't realised
when I started Fallen on Good Times just how strong that desire was. It's not a
facet of my writing, it's the very reason that I do write.
I have long believed that good writing
makes you feel, but great writing makes you think. If Fallen on Good Times
makes people laugh, smile, and enjoy themselves, I'm happy, but if it also
makes them think about their own thoughts and beliefs with regards to the issues
in the novel, then I'm something more than happy. I'm fulfilled. Justified. In
the film of my life, that'll probably be depicted by me running up a mountain
and roaring triumphantly at the world from atop the summit.
In reality, I'll probably just have
more biscuits.
Check out the trailer for the book here:
About
the author:
Rewan (not pronounced ‘Rowan’) Tremethick is a British
author who was named after a saint. St Ruan was invulnerable to wolves; Rewan
isn’t. His paranormal detective noir, Fallen on Good Times, is being released
towards the end of May. Rewan has already had two murder mystery novellas
published.
When not writing, he can be found drumming, reading, and
pondering. He works as a freelance copywriter, so it’s hard to find a time
where he’s not writing anything. Rewan is a fan of clever plots, strong woman
who don’t have to be described using words like ‘feisty’, and epic music. He
has dabbled in stand-up comedy, radio presenting, and writing sentences without
trying to make a joke.
He balances his desire to write something meaningful by
wearing extremely tight jeans.
Click here for more information and to sign up and get
chapter one for free [link: http://www.rewantremethick.com/fallen-on-good-times-novel].
Other
links:
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