Where am I from and how has this impacted upon my writing life?

As a writer it is only natural to presume that when asked ‘what has influenced you and your work’ typically we would expect someone to say something along the lines of: ‘The books that we have read, the life style choices that we have made and the life experiences that we have had to face.’ This is all well and good but what if we were to turn this question on its head by asking ‘where am I from and how has this impacted upon my writing life?’ Do you think that your answer will remain the same?

Unfortunately for me, I can honestly say that my answer would not remain the same for my hometown has not influenced me in any way, shape or form. It has however, inspired me to become a writer. A writer for the wrong reasons.

I live in a little town called Eastleigh or as some may like to call it ‘Beastly Eastleigh’ (the name speaks for itself). It is a town which adopts a particularly negative stereotype. I think that this may be as to why when my parents discovered that I liked to read and write they strongly encouraged this. At the end of the day they wanted me to be a somebody. Not a nobody. Like Cheever, my parents acknowledged the fact that it is ‘status – self- respect and work that we thrive for. We live for money yet dream of a complete love.’ I find that this may be as to why within my work I tend to focus on creating a lot of characters that are unable to do a lot of things for this is a true reflection on me. My Society has held me back in more ways than one and this is why I like to write for those that think they can’t but don’t realise they can.