Category Archives: Writing the Camino

Promises, promises, promises

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Tomorrow I shall be back on the path starting from Pamplona and I promise/hope to blog regularly and I promise/hope not to blog on those staples of what I eat, what the weather is like and whether the albergues are good or bad. We shall see! The objective is to walk with my fictional characters as they walk, meet, fall in love, separate, face death and numerous complications on and off the Camino over a period of two years. Now, they do not meet until after Burgos so there will be much preparatory time as we first follow our hero Tom.
See you on the Camino!

The Camino is not a race

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ImageI was reminded of this truism when a passing acquaintance sneeringly dismissed the Camino, saying ‘Oh yes I’ve done [sic] the Camino, it is just a bunch of people racing from one refuge to another to get a bunk for the night.’ It can be this and we have all seen those who appear determined to ‘do it’ as fast as possible; I met one woman who had walked from Geneva to Santiago and immediately turned around and was walking back, averaging 40 km per day with no pauses. It would be easy to say that this pace was blinding her to what was around her and that she was ‘missing the point’, but what was the point for her? A few hours in her company and it was apparent that she was experiencing a personal crisis and this was the best path for her to follow. The first time I walked part of the Camino, I knew my competitive nature well enough to be fearful that I would be one of those who did it at top speed and then wondered what all the fuss was about; so I forced myself to stop for a day every four or five days in a small town or village where there were no sights I would feel obliged to see, nothing I would feel compelled to experience for dread of the comment later ‘Oh, didn’t you go and -‘. Of course then I started to feel superior to those who did not do this and it took last year’s walk from Le Puy en Velay to Pamplona to help me see that this is pure ego and judgement. What does it matter how we walk the Camino? To state the obvious, we reach the same point via different paths and each path is equally valid, so let it go and just walk it as you want. If a driven and competitive creature like me can let it go, well then…

My fictional characters are walking because each has suffered great loss and sorrow and each is seeking forgiveness and most difficult, self-forgiveness. If others wish to do it as an adventure or as a bucket list tick, so be it.

 

 

I was challenged

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In Saturday’s writing workshop, I was challenged by the presenter to describe the Camino as a character. No analysis, no intellectualising, simply tell her what sort of character would be the Camino itself in my novel-under-revision. An excellent question and after various false starts, I came up with the following [remembering that I am writing as a male].

“The Camino is an exotic and romantic woman [sic] with whom it is easy to fall in love and who inevitably will disappoint, perhaps to the point of madness; the truth you seek she cannot deliver, for this you must find in yourself.”

Though not the most profound words ever written, it has transpired to be a very useful answer to a seemingly bizarre question.

 

You know you’re in trouble when –

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 the characters in your novel appear more real than the people around you and you eat solitary meals deep in thought on what will happen when character A meets character B unexpectedly and what character X would do in situation Y to be consistent; what is the perfect word to describe the sound of gravel crunching under your feet crossing that plateau or the colour of the water in that river at dawn or – then it is time to take a deep breath, surface and exhale and look around. Put down the pin board and scene sequence cards, close the computer or the writing pad and let it all wash away for a few days and be truly at one with those around you. Oh and write that three weeks overdue blog! Tomorrow is a weekend writing workshop, so it has been a blessed relief to have ‘done nothing on the novel’ [those dreaded words] since Tuesday. Deep breath…

Falling into place

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In May/June I plan to walk the Camino section between Pamplona and Leon, thereby completing my journey from Le Puy en Velay to Santiago over the last two years. Echoing in my mind is the editor’s question of what motivates people to undertake these long solitary walks along the old pilgrimage trails, especially when I told her that my [probably crazy] next idea is to walk from Canterbury to Rome, the old Via Francigena. I could only reply that my motives mirror those of my hero in my novel-in-progress: redemption, forgiveness, reflection alone in silence and, of course, writing and the sheer challenge of putting one foot after the other for days and weeks on end. Plus meeting intriguing characters who come and go and who all have their own stories which we writers plunder for future use. It is difficult to put into words, but perhaps a key motive is that it forces me to see and to experience everything at a slower pace. Nothing happens fast and my senses operate in ways they never do in city daily life.

Writing the Camino

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The last two years I have walked from Leon to Santiago and from Le Puy en Velay to Pamplona, sections of the Camino, Compostella, Chemin de Saint Jacques, whichever name you prefer, keeping a daily journal and then turning the observations into a story. This is the spine of my current novel in progress to which I have referred in previous posts. It is a story of love and death, of mysteries and secrets, set on the Camino in contemporary times. Why the Camino? Not for religious reasons, ‘spiritual’ would be a better term, but because it is a path for people undertaking arduous physical journeys and seeking something [an epiphany?] beyond ourselves. A meaning, a purpose, an explanation or simply a clearer understanding of ourselves and of what is important for us. A metaphor for life’s journey I guess. What a perfect setting, on a path 1000 years old where every stone and step holds a story and where millions of pilgrims have trod before you. Did I have an epiphany? Yes, two in fact: understanding that my children and my grandchildren are the most important things in my life [okay, I ‘knew’ this already, now I ‘live’ it] and seeing that I had to clear the rest of my life to make space for writing fiction.

Much encouraged

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I took my first baby step last Friday with a tiny blog about my writing aspirations and lo, only a few hours later, I received the report on my novel manuscript which I had sent to Writers Victoria for a professional assessment by an independent author/editor. The assessment is very positive and encouraging and so I begin the task of pondering and revising with a light heart. Yes, this sounds all very conceited I know and there is a long way to go, I know; for now I will accept the pat on the back.

Interestingly, I could respond to most of the report with a ‘yes, I felt that but did not know how to improve and now I do’ or ‘okay, I thought it was not working in that scene and you agree and suggest a nice alternative’ or ‘hmm, I wondered re the sequencing there and so do you’. There was one major surprise, which I shall return to here when I have worked it through.

my first time

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No, not what you may be thinking. Rather, this is my first foray into the world of blogging. Having spent much of my life working with words and ideas, it is time to enter this new [for me] form of sharing and commenting, especially as the ‘hero’ in my work-in-progress novel is an aspiring blogger and novelist so we have art imitating life or, more accurately, life imitating art in my case. Speaking of ‘walking’, this is another great passion and in May I intend to walk the Via Gebennensis from Geneva to Le Puy; last year I walked the Via Podiensis from Le Puy to Pamplona and the year before part of the Camino from Leon to Santiago, setting my novel in the wonderful history and romance of these great traditional pilgrimage paths. Writing and walking as two different quests for meaning and an authentic voice: sounds pretentious I know, so let’s stress the fun of it all. This is why I took early retirement from universities 7 years ago and now have cleared the decks to write and to wander.
No more excuses!
Let us see what happens!