Today we talk about Subliminism, a book by Lee Richardson published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Lee Richardson to get to know him better, the moment that prompted him to the writing of his book Subliminism, as well as what Writing means to him.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- What prompted you to write this book?
The answer to this question alone could stretch to a novella. For someone who writes there is no prompt; it is as asking a baby what prompts it to breathe. As for this project, I would label it under a number of different things: age and experience; finding myself alone after a marriage break up with the time, convenience and just a storm-breaking urge to express oneself; a poignant and cathartic expressionism; but mostly I think, watching the dominoes build without wanting to push them over. I’m sure anyone who has written will understand that analogy. I watched and helped create the words which built into a world that I, myself, became interested in which forced it to a checkpoint. That checkpoint became the first book of a volume in a set of yet indeterminable length. The prompt to write has been ever present since a young teenager – it was the fortitude, confidence and staying power that had always eluded.
- What does Writing mean to you?
To write a book that is then sent out into the world, especially when writing an honest account, I believe, is one of the most vulnerable situations a person can put themselves into. To walk through the eyes of friends and family who have read your work feeling like unreachable walls on either side is something I have never experienced, nor would take back, however blank, blasé or judgemental some of those eyes appear to be. Writers may be split whether there is a choice as to what or whether they should write something or not, but I believe that all would agree that every new experience is material. Writing to me I think is essential; not essential as in a practical necessity but as in essence, a part of the makeup of the person. We all monologue, I am sure. I feel the only main differences between a writer and non-writer is the courage to take accountability for their thinking, the urge to set it down in plain view and the aptitude to present it in a way that is entertaining for the audience.
- What did you want to convey with your story?
When I first begun to write what would turn out to be this book, there was no initial need to convey anything. A two-year journal had been eradicated from my machine and my response was to write another. Within a few words in, fingers and mind began building up a narrative that would grow in intention the further in it went. What began as analogous would turn into characters to be explored. With Epsilon, many more followed. The intention then became to present characters that had come to crossroads in their lives and the choices they made to hopefully choose the right path in their story arc. There are issues I wanted to address with certain characters and an intention to entertain with others. I think mostly though, I attempted to flex and hone my own skill and at the same time be as honest as I could with myself and my own narrative. On a deeper level; having been diagnosed with Bi-Polar some years ago I wanted to show that despite the stigma a person of such could still function healthily, productively creatively. We forget that even the writers of narratives are going through their own unique narrative themselves.
- Is there a book you are particularly attached to and that has taught you something?
Every book you have ever read should teach you something in my opinion and to slim it down to just one is particularly difficult to me personally. Even if you have learnt a couple of new words, a new way of expressing an emotion, a genre alien to oneself; every book should leave some mark. As a child and way up through the pre-internet years I read eclectically and voraciously. From the horror of Herbert and Stephen King to the romance novels of Danielle Steele. I read a great deal of the classic novels; Homer, Hemmingway, Orwell, Salinger, Harper-Lee, Huxley but also the historical fiction of Bernard Cornwell and the twist in the tale pulp-fiction of Jeffrey Archer. My most recent reads have been both self-help (a genre I thought I would never read), and anecdotal from a couple of writers I admire but to slim down to the most impactive on my own life I will have to mention: ‘Dr Who and the Loch Ness Monster’ which I read in one night as a 10yo and a few years later: ‘Rich Man, Poor Man’ by Irwin Shaw which inspired me to want to write in the first place.
- Are you planning to write a new book in the near future?
As this book is Volume 1, there is very much an intention to write another book to consolidate and explore those narratives touched upon in Volume 1 and to delve deeper into their stories as well as inventing some new characters and stories along the way. I am already halfway through Volume 2 and with a bit of luck and as long as the quill ink remains wet, this book should be complete by sometime hopefully early in the next year. I also write poetry, or as I call it to side-step the many rules associated – emotions and experiences – a collection of which is growing quite rapidly. My main focus after the Subliminism Volumes are completed and planned for the latter half of next year is a fiction that aims to respectfully parody a major franchise is already in progress and aims to show that all magic is not necessarily conducted with a wand!
Europe Books thanks the author Lee Richardson once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside him on the editorial path that led to the publication of his book Subliminism. We wish him the best of luck for his book and for his future works.
To you, my dear reader, may the stories of the characters here told make you think about the decisions in life that keep us on the right path to pursue. At the same time that the life experience of the author and his pathology allows all those who are afraid of writing, as they are equally affected by other pathologies, not to stop writing but to cultivate this precious and great gift.
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your editor!