Tillers
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Getting started |
Registered: October 2024
Messages: 2
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Hi all,
If you have the time, could you please take a look at my novel, Running Through Still Waters? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Running-Through-Waters-Christopher- Tiller-ebook/dp/B01C3HD572
It's about a young boy named Sam. It's his story--his journey through life between the ages of eleven and thirteen, and what he experiences during these years and how it changes and shapes him. HarperCollins expressed interest in the novel but sadly, for me as the author and for Sam, they ultimately decided against publishing it. At times it's hard-hitting and disturbing, but I believe Sam's story needs to be told.
This is my second novel. My first, after many rewrites is set to be published soon. Titled The Mouse Hunter, it's an autobiographical work reflecting on a summer from my childhood--a time I spent exploring the fields near my home during long, hot school breaks.
In this place, I searched for mice and shrews, surrounded by the melodies of birds, the high-pitched chirps of grasshoppers, and the lazy drone of bees gathering nectar from wildflowers. It was my sanctuary.
But in the summer of seventy-two, everything changed.
I was befriended by a man who showed a keen interest in me. He listened to my excited stories and watched as I searched for tiny mammals that inhabited the fields, which seemed endless - a sea of green and gold stretching out to the horizon, where tall blades of grass swayed lazily in the warm breeze.
I'd found someone who was intrigued by me, who wanted to know about me and what I was doing. Eventually, over several meetings with him, he persuaded me to do things I had never dreamt possible. Each time we got together, I would do as he asked. Then one hot summer's day, deep in my fields, he did something that terrified me.
I was going to die.
I didn't die, but I died every night in my dreams. Those nightmares haunted me for years to come.
What had happened led me to question myself, question my very existence, and also my sexuality. At the age of thirteen, I formed a close relationship with a friend from school. We shared our laughter, our thoughts and eventually our beds on those weekend school breaks.
Being brought up Roman Catholic, I struggled with the guilt and the shame of what I'd done with this man, and what I was doing with my friend. The nightmares continued to wake me with cold sweats where I'd frequently wet the bed. The fear at times was overwhelming, and the thought that this man, who had photographed me in bazaar positions and had made me do things I didn't want to do, would come for me. After all, I'd told him where I lived, and for years I'd walk down my street watching the gullies and alleyways that led to the fields, convinced he was watching me. I'd struggled with the thought that God knew my sins and I'd surely be sent to hell.
All this played heavily on my soul.
This is my story of how one summer in the fields turned into a nightmare that haunted me for many years. It is about how it affected my childhood, my relationship with my peers, and my family life. Writing this was therapeutic, but it also helped me evolve as a writer.
This experience gave me the ability to write Sam's story in Running Through Still Waters. I relate deeply to his character--his confusion over his sexuality, his longing for love and connection, his desperate need to feel seen and wanted. Like Sam, I understand the heartbreak of placing trust in someone who seems to care, only to endure betrayal. When Sam's world shatters, he is pushed to breaking point, setting him on a dangerous journey into the shadowy underworld of the city--a place where survival comes at a cost.
Thank you.
[Updated on: Mon, 25 November 2024 00:38] |
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