Category: the story behind the story

Broken Rules and Other Stories, the story behind the story11 Comments

The story behind ‘The Americans’

Barry Lee Thompson

‘The Americans’ – the fourth story in Broken Rules and Other Stories – is an homage to the annual summer holidays I used to take with my parents when I was growing up. We would spend two weeks every year in a seaside location, usually in the UK. For many years Bournemouth, on the south coast of England, was our destination, though we also visited the Channel Islands, Woolacombe, Torquay, and the Isle of Wight. These getaways were magical. This was a world of guesthouses, B&Bs, half-board accommodation, mystery coach-tours, cricket on the beach, and sandwiches and fresh-cream meringues with … Continue reading The story behind ‘The Americans’

Broken Rules and Other Stories, fiction, the story behind the story13 Comments

The story behind ‘Twitch’

Barry Lee Thompson

In December 2013, London’s Dazed magazine launched a competition calling for short stories ‘based on surveillance culture’. I’d long been a fan of the magazine, and was drawn to the theme, so thought I’d give it a whirl. I wanted to look at online surveillance, privacy and metadata, and concerns around the trails and traces we deposit in online spaces. The first few sentences of a story came to me quickly, and I was off. I found it easy and fun to explore on the page the liberating, if at-times anxious, aspects of online experiences, and of adult chat platforms … Continue reading The story behind ‘Twitch’

Broken Rules and Other Stories, the story behind the story5 Comments

The story behind ‘The Ministry Man’

Barry Lee Thompson

I grew up in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, where the government pursued and actively encouraged intolerance and hostility towards same-sex attraction. A culmination of the Tories’ damaging agenda was Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which forbade local authorities from promoting homosexuality, or from teaching its acceptability in maintained schools. The clause wasn’t repealed until 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in England and Wales. In such an environment, sexual attraction is so stigmatised that it can feel ‘wrong’ and even dangerous. Imagine something as simple and innocent as a teenage crush being laced with fear. There may be no role … Continue reading The story behind ‘The Ministry Man’

Broken Rules and Other Stories, the story behind the story9 Comments

The story behind ‘Their Cruel Routines’

Barry Lee Thompson

There are two mother-son relationships within ‘Their Cruel Routines’, the opening story in Broken Rules and Other Stories: that between the fictional mother and her adult son, and that between my own mother and myself. The latter was the spark or inspiration for the story. A few years ago, I went to stay with my mother at her house in the north of England to help look after her while she was unwell. I would be there for some months, so I set up a work station at the kitchen table, where I was able to write each day. It … Continue reading The story behind ‘Their Cruel Routines’