First Editorial

Welcome to my first editorial!  Each Wednesday I’ll post an editorial introducing the week’s story, photoessay or book review, in advance of it’s publication on Friday.  I’ll also update you on what I’m working on, future posts, and anything else I think you might be interested in. 

This Friday I’ll be posting a short story, Camel.

I originally wrote Camel in 2010 as an assignment for a creative writing course.  For quite a while I’d wanted to write a story with an unreliable narrator: where readers saw events from the narrator’s point of view, while at the same time seeing through them to a different version of the truth.  It took me ages to find the right character, but after listening to a radio interview of two young offenders talking about their crimes, Camel was born.  I’ll admit that I ended up with a petty crook with very low moral standards, but I think his naivety and lack of self-awareness make him quite a sympathetic character. From the opening paragraph of the story Camel is caught up in events which he doesn’t understand and has very little control over.  However, by his own standards he acts with integrity.

For me the key to creating Camel’s  character  was getting his ‘voice’ right, so as you read the story you’ll notice his English isn’t perfect and he swears a lot.  Please accept my apologies in advance for his bad language, but he wouldn’t have seemed real without it.

I hope you enjoy Camel.  I’d be very happy to hear your views, so please post comments on the blog or send me a message by using the contact form.

Next week I’ll be posting a photoessay on Aix en Provence and the painter Cezanne.

Take care and see you later!