Heights of success

As we celebrate Book Week Scotland, a local author tells Caroline Lindsay what having his story published for the event means to him

When Dundee author Rod McKenzie heard that his short story, Beer, Loathing and Air Piracy, was to be included in a book entitled Rebel, commissioned by the Scottish Book Trust for Book Week Scotland (which runs until tomorrow), he was over the moon.

“I was really chuffed, as I had been trying to get a piece into the SBT annual book for five years,” the semiretired immunology researcher and lecturer reveals.

Back in January, Irvine Welsh launched the SBT’s campaign around the theme of ‘rebel’, and people from all backgrounds and experiences were invited to submit their work.

The finished book also includes published authors such as Sara Sheridan, Jo Clifford and David Eyre and forensic anthropologist, Professor Dame Sue Black.

Although Rod has been writing poetry since he was 16, he didn’t start creating fiction until 2005, when he joined Nethergate Writers in Dundee.

“I’ve always been a bit of a people watcher and I enjoy describing and creating micro-communities and seeing how characters interact within them,” he explains.

“I’m inspired by overheard conversations in bars and on buses, big ideas from science and technology, like the effect of AI and robots on society.

“My writing style is quite impressionistic – I seem to favour the underdog, and the flawed hero or heroine.”

Beer, Loathing and Air Piracy describes how an in-flight visit to the toilet generates ludicrous consequences.

“The way it’s written, as a story within a story, owes its inspiration to the ‘gonzo’ journalism approach of US journalist and author Hunter S Thompson.

“Best known for his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thompson pioneered a style of journalism that often included the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative,” he explains.

As both a writer and an avid reader, Rod believes Book Week Scotland is invaluable. “It promotes literature as an alternative source of entertainment and, because it encourages participation, it feeds the streams of creativity,” he says, before offering his advice to budding writers.

“Ideally, join a writing group for support and feedback,” he suggests.

“Take note of constructive criticism but believe in your ideas; read voraciously, including what established writers say about the craft; establish a writing routine; try to get your work in front of an audience and see how it flies; and, most importantly, write because you enjoy it.”

Take note of constructive criticism but believe in your ideas