Alexander Allison began his speech by talking about his recently published book, The Prodigal, speaking of the use of his personal experiences and imagination when he wrote it.
Allison talked about how he wrote his books, writing 2000 words a day to complete the book within one year. He revealed the process of production, which involved his argument with an American editor, because of some slight differences in the use of English language.Allison wrote poetry when he was studying at the University of York, where he was the secretary of PoetrySoc. However, he felt that writing poetry wouldn’t help him to tell a full story, so he chose to put poetry aside and focus on fiction.
Allison highlighted that it is necessary for a writer to start off his or her career from a small press. He remarked how he got to know editors and developed good relationships with them, when he was writing poetry.
The audience was greatly enlightened by Allison’s talk, receiving first-hand information about the processes involved in writing and publishing. All in all this was a great chance to understand more about being a writer through the sharing of a York graduate and novelist of significant talent.