Story Profile "The Visitor"

All novels, plays, film scripts and short stories usually start with something popping into the author’s mind on the lines of, “What if?” And after the first what-if, can come other what-ifs, as the story spins off, limited only by one’s imagination. By that process was “The Visitor” born. 

I sat one hot, muggy afternoon working laboriously on a film script. I felt old, tired, run down, a kind of shabby, sweaty failure with a love life on hold. I tried to lift myself out of the gloom by imagining: What if the door bell rang and some fabulously beautiful woman stood there who would somehow be mysteriously attracted to me? Her adoration would transform me into the person I’d always wanted to be - dashing, glamorous, witty and dazzlingly successful. 

But my first what-if thoughts quickly turned darker – writers rarely exist in Disney-Bambi fairy-tale land – and I started to plunge off the beaten track into a different and altogether darker scenario. Perhaps the visitor had a more sinister and significant mission. The story began to form in my brain, and I immediately saved the script I’d been working on in Final Draft, opened Word and began - ‘The Visitor’.

“He padded downstairs and became acutely aware that his armpits were wet. Damn it! What the hell was under-arm deodorant for if not to prevent that? Scraggy old shirt, jogging pants, scuffed and dirty sneakers. Let’s hope it wasn’t someone important, he thought, and then instantly: what important? Who important? Important what? Who? Who was important that he knew, and who important did he know who would call on him? There was – he realized with a stab of bitter self-knowledge – nothing remotely important in his life. Except the novel. 

He opened the door without checking through the spy-hole. A woman stood there. Enormous understatement; he was a writer after all, let that be rephrased. A goddess stood there. A drop-dead gorgeous, stunning, more-than-beautiful-exquisite woman standing there on his doorstep……for a second he couldn’t catch his breath.”

Author Interview: Stuart White

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME A WRITER?
Entranced as a child by reading books which conjured up other worlds and characters, I always wanted to create such characters and worlds myself in stories that would be very real to those who read them.

DO YOU GET INSPIRATION FROM ANY PARTICULAR SOURCE?
From life and the world around me and the people who inhabit it, and from what I’ve experienced of this beautiful, immensely varied and frequently bizarre planet we inhabit. Everyday events, snippets of news, historical incidents, overheard conversations and ideas that pop into one’s head, can all inspire a story.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST POCKET NOVEL.
To say too much about The Visitor would give away its eventual plot denouement, but the essential idea is that of our lives being suddenly and drastically changed by the arrival of a glamorous and expected stranger.

WHAT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
I believe it’s taking the idea, developing the plot, fleshing it out with real characters, then working out how to pace it.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
The writing itself; taking the developed idea and plot and characters and turning them – hopefully – into a gripping, entertaining and hopefully satisfying and credible story.

DO YOU THINK WRITING SHORT STORIES (POCKET NOVELS) IS HARDER OR EASIER THAN NOVELS?
At one level it’s easier than the physical task of putting 85,000 words or sometimes more into a novel. But on another it’s actually more difficult. With a Pocket Novel of fewer than 8,000 words you’ve less time to establish story, plot and credible characters than you have in a novel. So you have to be both brief – but clever – in packing a great deal into a short space.

DO YOU THINK THERE ARE SPECIAL CHALLENGES FOR A UK AUTHOR TRYING TO CONNECT TO AN AMERICAN AUDIENCE?
Indeed. And that challenge is authenticity. Although in the UK we are exposed to American culture and history at an early age that’s not enough. I think you really have to have lived in America. I’m fortunate to have visited America extensively for the last forty years, and to have lived there for two periods totalling almost eleven years. Without that invaluable experience I don’t think I would dare try to write about Americans or America.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS AND GENRES?
I adore Graham Greene, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Andre Malraux, Camus, Sartre and Victor Hugo and frequently re-read their books. And you can’t beat Shakespeare for plot and language. I like the international event genre, something set in another place and another historical time.

ANY PARTICULAR GENRE YOU LIKE WRITING MORE THAN OTHERS?
I like the history genre, where one goes back in time to re-imagine the lives of individuals in great world events – World War Two or the Vietnam war(s) for example.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING WRITING QUIRKS?
Not really. I’m dull in that respect. All I need is a quiet room (or seat on a plane, or train), a computer or notebook. But I insist on reading my work out aloud (to myself), especially the dialogue, to make sure the whole is easy on the ear, and the latter can be read without awkwardness.

DO YOU HAVE ANY NON-WRITING PASSIONS?
Travel and history: I love far-flung places. I’ve lived in the US, in Hong Kong and the Persian gulf, and spent a great deal of time in France. In total I’ve visited about 68 countries either for work or pleasure. I read history voraciously, especially French military and political history, US history, and that of the 20th century including both world wars.

ANY WRITING ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU WISH TO SHARE?
I’m fortunate that my sixth novel The Valhalla Secret is to be published in the fall. I also have two non-fiction books and two ghosted novels to my credit. I’ve also had two screenplays optioned in Hollywood and – fingers crossed – one script, Crossmaglen, will go into production also in the fall.