The idea of writing this book
emerged long before I actually wrote it and it was at the forefront of my mind
when I returned to college as a mature student to study film and television.
I had a long bus journey to get
to the college so I began using this 'down' time to write Piggy Monk Square.
I remember I wrote in some cheap yellow notebooks I got free every time I
spent more than £5 in the local supermarket!
THE EDGE
At the time I as a very skint
single mother and had no computer at home so I used the college computer to
type it up at break times but I wasn’t happy with the results. I couldn’t get
the central spine of the story right and I knew I needed more time to focus on
it.
I became very busy trying to
juggle my college work with free-lance writing jobs and sometimes having to
resort to door-to-door selling to get the money to pay the electric bills.
(Worst job ever - although I did sell a magazine to 'The Edge' from U2 one
time.) In the end I had to leave the book aside and get on with everything
else.
THE ONE THAT
WOULDN'T GO AWAY
But, the story became one that
would not go away, no matter how hard I tried and there was part of me didn't
want to write it. Eventually I got round to doing it, and in keeping with the
atmosphere of the book, I re-wrote and typed up the story in a damp bare-brick
shed at the back of my house in County Wicklow.
Although it is a work of pure
fiction, there was a specific incident that inspired the book. Like the book,
it all happened in a derelict house in Toxteth. I was around nine or ten years
old. My little friends and I had made a hiding place so we could play hide and
seek, eat sweets, and swap comics away from adults.
One day, we were engrossed in
reading our comic when two policemen marched in to the building - they found
us, searched us and threatened dire consequences if they found us there again.
These two grown men were rough
as they searched us, and verbally intimidating. They treated us small children
like we were hardened criminals.
JUST LIKE SPARRA
Just like my fictional
character, Sparra, we were absolutely terrified. Even worse, the police also
confiscated our sweets. Unbelievable now but sadly true. They were bad times
for that area of Liverpool.
I had nightmares about these
men for weeks. Like Sparra, I could never tell my Mum because she would have
been annoyed that I was playing in the derelict house.
BAD POLICEMEN
Although the behaviour of these
two policemen was outrageous I have to thank them – without that unforgettable
incident I might never have written Piggy Monk Square.
Piggy Monk Square went on to be
published by Tindal Street Press and was optioned by Willy Russell’s
film company on the same day as the launch. It was also adapted for
Radio by RTE’s ‘The Book On One.'
‘Piggy Monk Square’ was
shortlisted for the ‘Commonwealth Writer's Prize and was on BBC’s
recommended ‘Raw Reads’ list.
Later, Willy Russell
commissioned me to adapt and write a full-length feature film script of Piggy
Monk Square.
Like many optioned books it
never did get made into a film. I wasn’t too disappointed because my own
experience in the film world had already taught me that very few scripts get
made. Still, it's always nice to dream...
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