Alex Clark, once again, has the responsibility of introducing three authors at the convivial auditorium of Foyles (Charing Cross) bookshop. A pleasant scent of pizza and the popping of bottled beer’s cap welcome the numerous attendees who quickly take their seats.
The grey side door swings open, and Alex Clark walks in, followed by the guests: Jess Kidd ( The hoarder), Mick Kitson (Sal), and Catherine Chanter (The half sister). Kitson sits between Kidd and Chanter. They happily smile; it’s not the first time the presented their work. “I had to prepare this evening,” Chanter exclaims, surprising the people in front of her. “It’s the first time I have to present my work to the public.” The writers chuckle along with the audience. Clark leads the conversation to its core, asking the authors to talk about their books and read a paragraph. One by one, their voices fill the room, grabbing the attention of the concentrated public. It’s engaging and amazing. When Catherine Chanter utters the last word of the paragraph she chose, a clapping of hands breaks the deep silence we all were in during the performances. “Although my main characters are two sisters,” Kitson says, replying Clark’s first question, “my book is mainly about parenting.” Chanter nods and then explains why she wrote her book: “I’ve always been into short stories and poetry. I decided to write this story because it has been knocking on the door for a long time.” The author explains that relationships fascinated her. They’re supposed to finish sooner or later for endless reasons, but every time you have to start them over and over again. “Don’t you think that a common characteristic of your characters is that they tend to isolate themselves?” Clark asks the writers. “I think that my character is actually in between the contrast of two other characters,” Kidd replies. “My main purpose was to create an unlikeable character that pointed out this unbalance.” Kitson, instead, has a different approach to his characters. He thinks that a character has to be trapped to grab reader’s attention. “Once the character is trapped,” he says, “you can create him and develop his story.” The conversation rapidly switches to the authors’ previous experiences. They all have different backgrounds and come from different environments. Chanter worked in politics in the UK and the United States. “I was into poetry,” she tells the audience, “and I was writing for somebody else. One day, I thought I wanted to write something for my readers, so I decided to create this story.” Kitson was a tabloid journalist. The decision of writing a book popped into his mind when a voice started ringing in his mind. “It was a voice for me, too,” Chanter confirms. “That’s why I decided to write my book in the first person. There wasn’t any other way to tell this story.” The Q&A is always the part I prefer in these events. It permits the public to address directly the authors. “Without any doubt, journalism helped me for writing this novel,” Kitson replies the first question. “A journalist always looks for a point of view that engages the reader. Besides, a writer must always check the sources of his information., and journalism is a good discipline to improve this ability.” A member of the audience asks about the editing process. How do the authors deal with it? “I love it,” Kidd answers. “It’s like a journey in the work I wrote.” “I stopped rereading what I write,” Kitson says. “Every time I reread what I wrote I feel the urge of rewriting again, so I decided to cease rereading my work and leave it as it is.” The authors agree on the last question before the signing begins: their characters are still in their mind. They became a part of them. “What happened when I wrote the last sentence of my book demonstrates that characters are a part of us,” Kitson says, stupefying the public. “When I concluded my story, I started crying as though everything had been real.”
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