There is a quote, well, a theory to be more exact, about monkeys and Shakespeare. It goes that if a monkey slaps around a typewriter through infinity, it will eventually write everything up to and including the complete works of Shakespeare.
This metaphorical theory scares me because it seems to paint a picture of both my writing style and speed.
The first chapter of TSOICS was written in 2006, 8 long years ago. Well, no, that's not exactly true. Actually that very first chapter was based on a script written for an animation I was creating at University in 1997. I didn't use the script in the end and it sat unfinished and unloved among many other unfinished and unloved scribbles until 2006, a few months before I left London for Borneo. Borneo is, by the way, where I discovered the flaw in the theory as few monkeys actually use typewriters... they much prefer laptops.
During the packing and general chaos before I left London I stumbled upon the old script and, as I had some free time before I left the UK and had been throwing around ideas for a short story, the script was re-evaluated. It sucked... but there was just about enough in there.
So in 2006 I used that pretty terrible script to create Carlo and Luigi, leaving them pretty much as you find them in the prologue today. Then I flew 7000 miles around the globe and forgot all about them.
Travelling and working abroad somewhat took over my life from that point and writing took less of a back seat and more of a rickety trailer behind the car. I barely gave it a second's thought. There was just never the time, it seemed. But, as it always does, the urge to write eventually crept up, like a deranged monkey dictating random words into an iPad.
This despite the fact that most of my time was being spent in jungles or muddy fields. (FYI... Lots of monkeys, very few Macbeth productions).
But eager to write once more, I returned to that short story in 2013 and found it an almost perfectly formed prologue as it was. Since when little has changed from that original story written in 2005 and the opening chapter of the book as published.
All I had to do was flesh out the story from the opening premise and bring to life Ben, Abi, Norton and Newton using the wonderful information already provided by Carlo in the prologue.
Is there a point to this ramble? Probably not, but I'll crowbar one in anyway. Whether or not TSOICS is a success, that an idea from 1997, revisited twice over 17 years, eventually grew to be a fully formed story is a grand testament that a good idea is never worthless. There's always a gem amongst the trash that can be salvaged.
Additional: The theory is wrong. Monkeys neither write nor perform Shakespeare. Great Apes however are wonderful thespians and Graham the Orangutan's portrayal of Macbeth's infamous "Is this a banana I see before me" monologue at Sepilok Orangutan sanctuary was both moving and poignant.
I like the book!
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