Laikonik Express - first draft p1
Above is the first draft of page 1 of the book that would eventually become Laikonik Express. As you can see, the working title was Don Dariusz's Book - a bit of a mouthful. It later had the working title Don Darius's Books, with the spelling of Don's name changed to its Americanised version - still a mouthful. When I sent it to Unthank Books in the summer of 2010 the title was The Woman in Abel. Yeah, still a mouthful, and not particularly imaginative. I'd thought of Lajkonik Express quite early on as a title, but knew people wouldn't like that aj in Lajkonik. It wasn't until a while later that I Anglicised the spelling of the train to Laikonik Express, and by then I seem to have forgotten it as a title.
I seem to have cut out most of the stuff on this first page, probably a good thing; it's all a bit wordy. History begets drama, which begets poetry, which begets literature. Eh? Per-lease!
You can also see here that it's written in the first person, the 'I' narrator. I'm not quite sure when I decided to change it; it certainly went through a few word-processed drafts before I changed it to third person. I'll talk about that on another page, probably, but there was no big revelation: I just thought I needed to impose a little formality on the style to rein it in a little, make it less sassy, less knowing, less exclusive. The story was narrated by Nolan Kennedy, and the first-person voice seemed to make him pretty disdainful a lot of the time. I think putting it into third-person allowed me to see the story from more of an outsider's point-of-view, and therefore to find more compassion and sympathy for the people I was writing about. The third-person voice also took the smart-aleck out of Kennedy, and made him more flawed but, hopefully, more likeable.
"Where did the story come from, though?" some people like to ask, and usually I'm not very helpful, as I never know or can't remember. I already had a short story featuring the antics of a Texan friend I worked with in Istanbul - that became Nine Hundred and Ninety Something - and I guess I wanted to write a few more things about him. I also wanted to write about being in both Poland and Turkey. I also thought the many train trips I took across central Europe from Istanbul, and also in Poland, were worthy of record in some way. I think I had a short story in mind for Don Darius and Kennedy, but it soon began to get long, my mind crowded with links and ideas that took it on and on.
I seem to have cut out most of the stuff on this first page, probably a good thing; it's all a bit wordy. History begets drama, which begets poetry, which begets literature. Eh? Per-lease!
You can also see here that it's written in the first person, the 'I' narrator. I'm not quite sure when I decided to change it; it certainly went through a few word-processed drafts before I changed it to third person. I'll talk about that on another page, probably, but there was no big revelation: I just thought I needed to impose a little formality on the style to rein it in a little, make it less sassy, less knowing, less exclusive. The story was narrated by Nolan Kennedy, and the first-person voice seemed to make him pretty disdainful a lot of the time. I think putting it into third-person allowed me to see the story from more of an outsider's point-of-view, and therefore to find more compassion and sympathy for the people I was writing about. The third-person voice also took the smart-aleck out of Kennedy, and made him more flawed but, hopefully, more likeable.
"Where did the story come from, though?" some people like to ask, and usually I'm not very helpful, as I never know or can't remember. I already had a short story featuring the antics of a Texan friend I worked with in Istanbul - that became Nine Hundred and Ninety Something - and I guess I wanted to write a few more things about him. I also wanted to write about being in both Poland and Turkey. I also thought the many train trips I took across central Europe from Istanbul, and also in Poland, were worthy of record in some way. I think I had a short story in mind for Don Darius and Kennedy, but it soon began to get long, my mind crowded with links and ideas that took it on and on.
Cover, by Ian Nettleton and Dan Nyman - a work-in-progress
First sighting of a copy of Laikonik Express (in a Norwich pub)
Launch of Laikonik Express, May 2011 - flyer
Laikonik Express was launched at the Oxford in NW London's Kentish Town. I did a short reading, we had a bit of a party, and then the band played - the Trans-Siberian March Band of which I am proud to be a part. Then we partied on a bit more. I met lots of friends old and new, and caught up with them. I signed a few books. It was a great evening - a real milestone in my life.