Scribbles

A mock interview...

Photo by Johnny Briggs on Unsplash

INTERVIEW QUESTION: So what makes you think you’re qualified to write about King Arthur? I mean, so many others have written stories about him, what makes your story so different?

ANSWER: That’s a good question. Well, for one thing, I’ve purposely avoided ALL those other books about King Arthur. I have ONE sourcebook, “LE MORTE DARTHUR,” by Sir Thomas Mallory. It’s the best book about Artie and his Knights. You take what you want, and leave the rest. Tristan? He’s in there? Launcelot? Him, too. The Orkney Knights? (That would be Gawain and his brothers.) They’re in there. What you do with those characters is up to you. What I plan to do with them is use them to weave my story of a young Scottish knight from Beyond the Wall (that’s Hadrian’s Wall.)

INTERVIEW QUESTION: And where are you going with this story?

ANSWER: Another good question. I wrote my Table of Contents years ago. I wanted to write a story that’s set up like THE THREE MUSKETEERS. By that I mean, five books, ending with the hero’s death in the final Battle between Arthur and Modred.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: Five books?

ANSWER: That’s the idea. The story follows young Locksley. He journeys to Camelot in hopes of taking part in the Tournament of Youth. But things don’t go the way he thought they would. Along the way, he picks up a Squire, who will become a knight in his own right.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: But what’s the theme of your story?

ANSWER: Theme? I don’t write with a particular theme in mind. I write to entertain myself. I’m just not that deep.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: You must have an idea of where the story’s going? How long will it be?

ANSWER: How long? I was thinking about that the other day. I told myself I want it to be about 300,000 words. Is that too long? It might be for a published novel, but for something here, on Substack, I’m not really held back by costs. I can make it as long, or as short as I want. That’s about a 600 page book. That’s not too unreasonable, is it? It’s a serial. Everything’s up in the air. No plot to speak of, really, except for the Table of Contents. I have two or three duo tangs of a hand written story I did about 25 years ago. I’ve barely looked at it.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: And what if no one reads it?

ANSWER: (Laughs.) I’ve only got 158 followers. That pretty well means no one’s reading it now, are they? I’m not worried about that. If I spend a couple of years putting out 2000-2500 words a week, I’m good for at least two years. I’ve got short stories to write at the same time for my SHORT STORIES AFTER EIGHT on Sundays.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: Do you have that many stories? How many is that over a two year period?

ANSWER: Lots! Two years is 104 weeks. Each story is usually good for five or six weeks. I’ll need at least twenty—more if I write shorter stories.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: How long are your short stories?

ANSWER: They range from 12,000-18,000 words. Long stories. Some might even be called novellas. I don’t label them. To me, no matter how long they are, they’re just stories.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: You don’t call yourself a novelist?

ANSWER: I don’t think I’ve earned that right.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: Why not?

ANSWER: I’m just a Blue-collar man. I never went past grade 12. I went to a couple of night school classes, you know, the Creative Writing courses we all think we need.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: And you didn’t need them?

ANSWER: I never said that! I just couldn’t afford it. We’d just bought a house and I was the only one working. Things were tight. I stopped writing for a while. The kids seemed more important than my dreams. I could wait.

INTERVIEW QUESTION: And now you’ve waited long enough?

ANSWER: Exactly. Now it’s my turn.