One of my favourite pieces of writing advice I ever heard was, ‘write the book you want to read,’ and that’s what I do. It’s one of the freedoms of being an independently published writer. I’m not having to please an editor or a publisher. The only compromise I have to find is between writing the book I want to read and the book that ticks every commercial box there is.
Stephen Mellor – 16 November 2023
The Back Flap
Two men meet.
Alej has been waiting centuries, Ben believes he is passing through. In the days that follow, the past becomes the present as untamed spirits haunt Ben’s journey across the lands he once ruled.
Bound to Alek by grief, Ben must face his demons if he is to survive his most dangerous enemy: himself.
Inspired by the author’s own travels through Spain, and the spectacular Desfiladero de Despenaperros gorge, From Where We Threw Dogs crosses borders, times and cultures, reimagining the traditions of gothic horror and romanticism.
About the book
What is the book about?
The tag line is, some journeys take more than a lifetime.
From Where We Threw Dogs is the story of Ben, who’s travelling through Spain. It’s 1995. He’s gone to Spain, with his girlfriend, to — he thinks — escape from the mental torment he is experiencing. Once there he has these dreams, and he hears voices from the 9th century.
As he travels, he interacts more and more with these voices and learns the story of a Spanish city king, Infante, and how both he and Infante share so many similar experiences and struggles. Ben doesn’t realise it at first and then fights against it but eventually he realises he and Infante are intertwined, and he finds redemption in understanding Infante’s story, and as the two timelines, 1995 and the 9th Century, collide.
It’s also a love story: Ben learning to love himself again, learning to allow himself to love other people and let them love him, but also, running through the book is the theme of grief; and specifically toxic male grief and the damage it can do, to you, and to those around you.
When did you start writing the book?
In 1995, almost exactly one year to the day from losing my own father.
How long did it take you to write it?
25 years.
The context is that I always wanted to write. It was something I’d done since I was 14, when I was first properly introduced to Shakespeare and strangely, Monty Python. But I went to a school where being a writer wasn’t something to be considered, so it was always a thing I kept hidden. Fast forward a few years, I left University having studied Ancient History, but back then there were no jobs in that field. So, I joined the family business that my parents had just set up. Fast forward again, a few years on and it was clear I wasn’t happy. I sat down with my father one Wednesday afternoon and told him this. He already knew and suggested I took a year off and we’d all see what was happening at the end of that. So, I quit the job, left that afternoon, never felt so free and ready for life. That evening I went to see a football match with my father. We both supported Sheffield Wednesday, and on the way out of the ground he had a massive heart attack and died in my arms. The next morning, I walked back into the family business and said ‘hello, I’m your new managing director.’ I did that for many years until I decided, for various reasons, that I’d gone as far as I could and gave it up and started writing.
Where did you get the idea from?
In truth, real life.
Just as Ben does in the book, a year after my father died, I went off to Spain and how I’d been handling my grief over my own father came to a head. In the book, Ben has many visions and dreams and all of them, including the terrifying, visceral scene at the beginning of the book, are actual dreams I had at that time. Then, as we travelled from Toldeo to Granada, we went through the Desfiladero de Despenaperros gorge. From here I got the title of the book, I got the initial setting, I got the basis of the story. The gorge is where one general, it is said, threw traitors, or in his own words, treacherous dogs, to their death: hence From Where We Threw Dogs.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
The core of the book came together quickly over a matter of weeks in 1995, 25,000 words or so. The difficult part was initially finding the time to take it from something raw to something with more substance and something that had a solid start, middle and end. Because of the nature of the story’s conception the initial versions were immensely emotional and the line between the story and the writer was blurred.
Once I’d taken my step away from the family business, I sought out local writers and got their take on my writing. That was a shock. I was told I had talent, but it was very raw, the book itself had value but it was very raw. I needed to learn to write. I was nearly 50 years old, I was good at the family business but here I was having to go back to the beginning. That was the struggle. So, I spent a long time studying, practicing, reworking. Studying, practicing, reworking. Pushing myself, challenging myself. Then I sat down and rewrote the book. I then put it away for a couple of years, wrote Pyre, and then went back to it again.
Because of its content, I didn’t want to release From Where We Threw Dogs until I felt legitimised, and able to say with as much confidence as I could, ‘I am a writer.’ That was the bit I struggled with.
What came easily?
Despite what’s said above, writing, that’s the easy bit. I love it…most of the time.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
Ben is pretty much me. The girlfriend is close to the person there in real life but both are suitably adapted to not be a direct borrowing. In many ways, Infante is also me because he’s a personification of the toxicity of grief, and the anger and guilt and lack of understanding surging through me at that time. But Infante was not a real historical person. He didn’t exist, but he is an amalgamation of many different characters from history, from Spain, from wider afield, not only during the 9th Century.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
Author wise, John Irving. The World According To Garp was like someone giving me a key to a secret lock. Then Albert Camus, and lately J.M. Coetze. Poetry wise, Ted Hughes, so obvious for someone my age studying English literature at school. And Shakespeare, always Shakespeare, especially Othello. I also think it’s very important for writers to listen, as well as read. I love certain songwriters, certain scripts. I love the work of Aaron Sorkin for example, and the screenplay for Casablanca, I think, is stunning.
Do you have a target reader?
The six-million-dollar question. The honest answer is no, except me.
One of my favourite pieces of writing advice I ever heard was, ‘write the book you want to read,’ and that’s what I do. It’s one of the freedoms of being an independently published writer. I’m not having to please an editor or a publisher. The only compromise I have to find is between writing the book I want to read and the book that ticks every commercial box there is. Other than that, with From Where We Threw Dogs I guess I’m targeting men, in general; men who have gone through grief; who are going through grief; who know someone going through grief. But then women as well, who have men going through grief. And after that, it’s people who enjoy fearless writing and timeslip, supernatural novels.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I don’t sign on to the ‘write something every day’ mantra. I understand it but it’s not for me. Instead, I write when I know I can. That leads to intensive periods of writing. I have to write myself out and I get very grumpy, very self-obsessed if something doesn’t allow me to write in those periods. My mood goes rapidly downhill if that happens. When I am writing I’ll happily sit at my desk for hours on hours and skip meals, forget to drink. Sometimes I’ll walk the dog and churn through dialogue or a scene in my head, often talking to myself, aloud, or I’ll go for a drive — I live on the edge of the city and we’re straight into countryside — and then I’ll have to pull over and start scribbling in a notebook or on my phone, and that then starts me over.
When I’m blocked, I’ve learnt to tell people I’m blocked. I watch the same films and TV over and over again, like a comfort blanket. I listen to the same music — because I know it will start me writing again.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
At the beginning it is all in my head and I tend to just start writing and get a big chunk of words down. I tend to focus first on the dialogue or the internal narratives. I tend to come up with 15,000 to 25,000 words, a form of start, middle and end, and then I’ll decide where it’s going. Sometimes I skip parts of the story, or I might have a sentence or the outline of a scene or some dialogue in mind, but no more. So, I’ll jot that down and move quickly on to some part I’m more certain about and write that more fully.
I can then decide if it’s a story I can tell in a novella length, or it’s more substantial. I have one novella out already, Pyre. That was shortlisted for the Reflex Press 2022 Novella award. I have two others that are already at 20,000 words and I feel I can tell both stories that succinctly; so I will. I have another story that will go to three full length novels by the time it’s finished. The first novel is written but needs work in the middle third. I’ve already got 15,000 words of the second one.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
Depends. If the words and ideas are just flooding, then no, I just write, I get as much down as possible, and then, later, go back over it and work on it until I’m happy. Your first draft is literally just that, the first draft. It’s never the last.
Did you hire a professional editor?
Definitely. I’m dyslexic so there’s always going to be things wrong in the manuscript, spellings, mixed up words. The editor gives me the confidence in the work whilst also being critical, in a constructive way. I’ve been lucky. I’ve recently been supported by two very good editors, Lorna Partington Walsh and Joanna Hastings, who I would recommend to anybody.
Finding a good editor(s) is essential. There’s a challenge that comes from my dyslexia because my sentence structures and writing style isn’t necessarily traditional. When I first used an editor I was still mired in the imposter stage and I corrected everything they suggested without being true to my voice and style. I then gave the draft to someone I trust explicitly with my work. She turned round and said, ‘it’s not you, where’s the poetry gone, where’s the rhythm, where’s the flow?’ Someone said that they read Pyre once, to read the story and then they read it again to read my writing and the way it was written because that was as enjoyable as the story. They felt they were watching something being painted, they were witnessing a dance. I put that down to my dyslexia, and I put that down to working with Lorna and Joanna who understand how I write.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
I do have a playlist for when I’m writing but it’s stuff that doesn’t intrude. It starts with an album by the Unthanks, with a brass band, called Diversions Vol 3 but then morphs into piano and church organ. For some reason it works.
Music is more important to me when I can’t write. Then I listen to Springsteen’s Nebraska, his Tom Joad album, and then Craig Finn, the lead singer of The Hold Steady, but his solo stuff. I’ll walk the dog with that in my earphones and I’m soon writing.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Time and time again and every time it was, ‘thanks and we love the writing, the writing is great, the writing moves us but it’s not what we’re looking for right now.’ It’s soul destroying.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
The writing advice I mentioned earlier: write the book you want to read. Plus, you write to be read, not necessarily by everyone, but by someone, somewhere, and banging my head against the traditional doors was not ticking those boxes and proving unhealthy. I then met some successful independently published writers and picked their brains. I met some not successful writers and I listened to them also. That led me to a very content place where it fitted together and seemed obvious. So, once I’d made that decision, you just get on with it. No one is dictating my stories. No one is setting the timetable except for me.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
Yes, both Pyre and From Where We Threw Dogs, and I’m so glad I did. I think I’ve been very lucky in getting great looking covers.
From Where We Threw Dogs was done by Dominic Forbes who I found through Reedsy.com. He found the 18th century lithograph of the actual gorge and developed it from there. He gave me four or five different options as well but everyone who saw them, they all said, ‘that one.’ The one being used. Pyre was done by a local artist, Jessica Sinclair. We shared a very clear idea of what was wanted, so we sourced the picture and then developed it from there. Jessica gave me a couple of other options as well but again everyone said, ‘that one.’
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
‘Lord have mercy on me,’ I think that’s the plan.
No, I have a plan. I put Pyre out without any fanfare, it was more about me having the confidence to be able to say, ‘I am writer, this is what I’ve written.’ From Where We Threw Dogs however is having the lot: a marching band, a proper launch night, fireworks, press releases. We have a phrase over here which fits the plan and that is ‘I’ll bare my backside on the town hall steps’ if I have to.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
I wouldn’t dream of giving anyone advice. We’re all different, we’re all doing things for different reasons, in different ways, with different ambitions. I would say to anyone, writing a book is not easy. There’s so much more to it than just having a story. It hurts. You have to embrace the pain. If I had to give writing advice it would be, ‘work hard, and then work harder still.’
About You
Where did you grow up?
I grew up across a mixture of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire and a small village called Otterburn, in North Yorkshire, where Pyre is set. I was born in Liberia, West Africa but we moved back to the UK whilst I was still a baby. I’d love to go back sometime see all the places I’ve been told about, and seen pictures of, but I don’t remember. I very nearly did a few years ago but Ebola broke out and there was no way I could go.
Where do you live now?
Still in Sheffield. For now.
What would you like readers to know about you?
I have two children, a wonderful wife, an excitable greyhound called Moose — I’ll be in big trouble if I don’t mention the dog. I support Sheffield Wednesday football club, the only football club named after a day of the week, and I live a stone’s throw from the oldest football ground in the world. I’m a great believer in we should be focusing so much more on what unites us and we have in common. Love, life, breathing, children, death, grief, joy, pain. Doesn’t matter what your creed, colour, sex, nationality is, we share so much in common. Why we give the little that divides us so much of our energy and focus is beyond me? I guess I’m a bit of a hippy, and I’m rather tall.
What are you working on now?
Two novellas, a screen play, and the three-part story I mentioned earlier, about the Devil.
End of Interview:
For more from Stephen Mellor visit his website and follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
Get your copy of From Where We Threw Dogs from Amazon US or Amazon UK.
