Compulsive Writing
When I began writing Clone Child it was a surprise to me because, like all people at that time, I knew almost nothing about the subject. Yet, as the theme unfolded, I began to see different possibilities concerning ethical issues: What if there were twin boys and one was killed by an avalanche - an idea inspired by the newscast I had seen on television. And what if those twins were very talented on piano and violin? Ah,now, I began to see a link to my own experience as a violinist, of studying the Suzuki Method of talent education in Matsumoto, Japan. I then began to take on the mindset of a parent who was a Geneticist and another one who was director of a music institute in Japan and so the story gripped me and I wrote on.
It wasn't difficult for me to set my story away from my own country, New Zealand, and create a setting in the Japan I knew and loved. Japan is, therefore a key country to feature in my story. I had a very good year living in Matsumoto and felt very comfortable putting my imagination to work in Matsumoto, Nagano prefecture, and moving off from there to Austria and Italy because the newscast was about an avalanche tragedy in Galtur, Austria.
Once I had a beginning, an ending and a middle which would make a reasonably long novel, I took time out to explore some of the new countries to which my imagination had taken me. I began by returning to Japan and sussing out a few environmental details, then went on to England and directly to Scotland. The one bit of cloning knowledge I had was about the cloning of the sheep, Dolly, so of course my imagination got me thinking about Scotland. To Edinburgh I went, hired a car, and yes, found the locations my imagination had taken me to and had a very revealing time there. It felt good. My muse was serving me well, so when I visited Italy for the first time and felt I knew the country quite well already, I was pretty happy with padding out my story.
Eventually, I returned to New Zealand and added another 10,000 words of local colour gleaned on my journey. This became the novel,Violated in 2002, but I am presenting a new edition and call it Clone Child, which gives the book a truer identity. I have published it as a kindle ebook to make it readily accessible to all.
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