HOME
ABANDONED
STATION SHORTS
EXTRAS
BLOG
LINKS
PREVIOUS PAGE
STORY BACKGROUND
The idea for ‘abandoned’ was born during a walk in the Inverpolly nature reserve. This is a landscape as remote and spectacular as any to be found in Britain, and it was while pausing by the side of a still loch that I began to wonder what it would be like to live here, a long way from civilisation, and whether the beauty of the landscape would be enough to sustain me.
So I began work on the story of Tess and her battle for survival. I am intrigued by the concept that we are all capable of far more than we think we are, and was determined to show Tess growing from a feeble, terrified victim, into a strong and determined survivor. Originally, Tess was going to escape from the island and go in search of revenge.
Sadly, on my return to England, work and other everyday pressures got in the way, and the project was put to one side.
On my next trip north, I was browsing in the general store when I came across “the Collins ‘little gem’ guide to SAS survival training.” After I’d stopped laughing, I bought the book, and what a fund of information it turned out to be. I was galvanised into resurrecting the story of Tess, and, equipped with a ‘survival tin’, I began to find out for myself what it would be like to try and survive in the wild places.
This set me back, as jeans, a shirt and a thin rainjacket are poor preparation for the often savage climate of the Highlands. And I found out by uncomfortable experiment that training shoes last all of three minutes before they are soaked through in the boggy Scottish ground, leaving your feet frozen blocks. Maybe I was expecting too much of my little shop girl.
And Mike, the bad guy, didn’t seem real. Once again, I put the idea to one side and got to work on other things.
It was the next Christmas when the idea reared its ugly head again.
There is a saying in the Highlands: if you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes.
On Boxing day I was walking with my dogs on Achnahaird beach, dressed only in a jumper and jeans. Thinking about the vagaries of this fascinating climate, it occurred to me that Tess just needed to be lucky with the weather, and that spawned the further notion that others might not have been so lucky. The story was back on rails, and now DS Fisher invented himself, and began to nag at me to increase his part.
The story rattled on happily, but there was still a problem with Mike. Why was he doing this to Tess? What was driving him? I decided to do some research into what happens to our soldiers when they return home from battle, and that’s when the novel took a different turn.
I was both surprised and saddened to find that many ex-service personnel get little help for the psychological trauma they bring back with them. One website in particular: www.ptsd.org.uk was deeply moving. These are people who deserve better. Reading some of the heart-rending stories on the site, I began to understand the forces that might be driving poor Mike. He finally crystallised into a real person, and the rest of the story effectively wrote itself.
Looking back, it’s clear that ‘Abandoned’ is a far different tale from the one I originally envisaged. It’s a more thoughtful story, and ultimately, I think, a more satisfying one. And if it helps in a small way to underline the plight of those who have risked their lives for their country, then so much the better.
Return to top
