Three Way (40 page)
Authors: Daniel Grant
Paul lets me go at five, he can see I’m down. I walk out of main reception and into the outside world. I feel completely numb. I stop and look left, then right, temporarily forgetting how I get home. I watch cars and buses race past as I shove my hands into my pockets. I breathe in deeply and release it. Breathe in and release. I need to take action. To decide what I want and go get it. I turn and head for the tube.
I walk into the Roundhouse and straight up to the box office.
‘Hi there, I was wondering if you had any spare tickets left for tonight’s performance?’ I ask. The tattooed guy behind the counter smiles and looks at his computer screen.
‘Uh, only ones in the circle standing area.’
‘How much?’
‘Thirty pounds. How many?’
‘Just one, please,’ I say, taking out the cash and handing it over. The ticket prints and he gives it to me.
‘Enjoy the show,’ he says.
‘Thanks.’
I walk up the metal stairs built into the side of the massive stone hallway and find the correct entrance. I show my ticket to the guy on the door and walk inside. I see Ashley’s piano sitting alone on the stage. People have already found their spots and I feel a buzz about the place. I find a corner where I can have a clear view of Ashley. More people are standing in front of the stage below me. People chatter and laugh. Some hold bottles of beer or glasses of wine. Soon the lights dim and the crowd start to cheer. Ashley and the rest of the band walk out. She gives a little wave to the audience and takes her seat at the piano.
‘Hello,’ she says into the microphone. Her voice echoes around the hall. Some of the crowd shout back. ‘Steady, we’ve got a lot of songs to play. Try and pace yourselves.’ That brings a few laughs, myself included. She shields her eyes from the blinding spotlights trained on her. ‘I like your shirt,’ she says to one person.
‘I love you Ashley!’ the guy shouts back. More laughter from the audience.
‘Feels like we’ve got a good crowd in here tonight,’ she says. More cheers. She looks up towards me. She seems to see me but her eyes quickly move past and cross to the rest of the audience. ‘Okay, let’s get this thing started.’ The crowd clap and cheer. I’m mildly disappointed, maybe it was too much to ask for her to see me. It is pretty dark up here. Things like that don’t really happen anyway, far too much like a movie. But then she says, ‘This is for someone I thought had got away.’ She starts playing the piano, the band join in. It’s a song I instantly recognise. The song she played for me in Parker’s bedroom, all those months ago. She glances up towards me and smiles. I smile back, unsure if she can even see me.
Maybe things will be okay after all.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank all those who gave their precious time to read and review early drafts. Their notes and thoughts have made Three Way what it is. Rekha John-Cheriyan, Caz Coronel, Adrian Pinsent, Charlotte Essex, Alexandra Vanotti and Tamsin Smith.
And to my wife Alison, without whose support this book would never have been possible.
From Dan
I really hope you enjoyed reading this book. For new authors like myself, getting our books out into the world is one of the hardest things. Obviously word of mouth helps, but seeing good reviews on websites like Goodreads and Amazon is even better. If you liked Three Way and want to help spread the word, drop a quick review on Amazon. It can be as short as 20 words but it makes such a difference. Thanks for reading.
Here’s the link to Amazon US
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EMUE79Y/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img
And here’s the link Amazon UK
Thank you again, you really are very cool.
Where did the idea for Three Way come from?
Strangely enough my original title for Three Way was ‘Sex Friends.’ I wanted it to be a sort of sequel to Sex Lessons. I knew the main character would be different from James Kennedy but I liked the characters in Sex Lessons and wanted to carry on some of their journeys.
The genesis of Three Way and the reason it was going to be called Sex Friends was because I thought the story was going to be about two people who basically had sex outside of a relationship. But whenever they began seeing each other as a couple, things would always go wrong. As I got further into writing it I realised this wasn’t the story that was coming out. I didn’t want to force it to become something it wasn’t, so I went with it.
James Kennedy, the main character in Sex Lessons, is a secondary character in Three Way. What gave you that idea?
Yeah, I love the idea you can create a main character in one book and have him or her appear as a secondary character in another. After all readers who have read the first book will, I hope, say ‘oh James Kennedy, I remember him.’ But I didn’t want the reader to have had to have read Sex Lessons. Three Way is a book that stands on its own. But if you have read Sex Lessons, it’s sort of an in joke with the reader.
Run through your writing process. How does it start, how long does it take you to write a book?
Three Way took a little longer to write than Sex Lessons mainly because I wrote Sex Lessons on a career break in Australia. When it came to writing Three Way I had a full time job. So I would write on days off sometimes getting my target of 2000 words a day sometimes less, occasionally more. I normally write in my front room, laptop on my lap. I put on a movie soundtrack to get me in the right place emotionally, then I write for as long as I can. Again, it changes every time I do it. Sometimes it’s a couple of hours, sometimes it’s a whole afternoon. Whenever I have some time and I’m by myself. I have quite a long commute into work so I listen to soundtracks on my iPod whilst thinking about my story and it’s almost inevitable inspiration will come. I use Evernote to log my ideas.
What sort of soundtracks do you listen to? Are there certain soundtracks for certain scenes?
Definitely. If I want to write a sad scene, for example a breaking up scene, I’ll listen to slow and melancholy music. Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard and Mychael Danna are some of the best at creating slow, sad themes. If I want to write an action scene, I might put on Hans Zimmer or James Horner for a fast paced, upbeat track. All depends on what I’m writing. The one thing the music can’t be is distracting. It has to be background music that makes you feel something without distracting you from what you’re writing.
Tell me about Ollie, he seems a genuinely nice guy trying to do the right thing, is that how you envisaged him?
Yes. It was really important I make Ollie sympathetic to the reader. He’s a good guy and I think in the opening scene with Svetla you do feel sorry for him. He’s a man who wants to find the right girl and settle down but he’s also scared of not only making the wrong choice but also being alone. It’s like his Achilles Heel.
Ollie is a very different main character to James Kennedy, was that deliberate?
Yes. James Kennedy is a bit of a show off and in certain circumstances he can be a bit of a douche. Although his story is hopefully compelling and you do care about his issues because of how honest he is with the reader, I think there are occasions you lose sympathy for him because of his behavior. The key to making any main character sympathetic and getting your audience to relate to him or her is honesty. If your character behaves the way you or I might behave given the situation in front of him, then that will generate sympathy…in theory anyway.
Once you have finished your first draft what’s your process to getting it ready for publication?
I normally pat myself on the back, tell myself what a clever boy I’ve been then forget about it for at least six weeks. I start thinking about my next book or some other idea I can work on. Then once a period of time has elapsed I reread my draft which is normally a slightly surreal experience. There are bits I honestly don’t remember writing. Some parts are great, others are truly terrible. But having had that time away from the manuscript it’s a lot easier to see the errors. So I do a pass correcting everything that occurs to me as I read. I then let my wife read it. Then I sulk when she doesn’t tell me it’s the best thing she’s ever read but that with a little work it could be. She does some notes, I either agree or disagree and implement them. Then I ask five or six people whose opinion I trust to read it. They come back with more notes and again I implement the ones I agree with. One final pass and it’s pretty much ready. Everything I just said is true, except I normally do fifteen more passes over that time, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. Hope you enjoyed the book.
Reading Group Discussion Questions
What do you think are the central themes of the book?
What do you think about the humour of Ollie and Parker’s friendship?
Do you find Lauren a sympathetic character? On the surface she seems to have it all, good looks, a good job etc. but is there more to her than meets the eye?
Did you prefer Svetla, Lauren or Ashley?
Did you feel sorry for any of the characters in the book, if so why?
Does Ollie’s job as a news producer help or hinder his cause to find ‘the one?’ Does his job make him more attractive?
How hard is it for young people to find someone nowadays?
We don’t hear much about Ollie’s parents or family during the story. Is that a bad thing?
What do you think happens after the end? Who do you think Ollie ends up with?
Was the ending satisfying? If not, why not?
Did you find the book funny? Which moments stood out to you?
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Just because you couldn't get it up once, doesn't mean we cancel the whole thing,' says Jenny. Now, in her defence, she did whisper that last line. However, the fact she's saying it at all, let alone in a public sandwich bar are grounds for a firing squad as far as I'm concerned.'
Straight-talking city trader James Kennedy has a problem ... he's a flop in the bedroom. When his latest romance hits the buffers, James reaches the end of his tether. To make matters worse, his new bombshell of a boss might just be interested. What he really needs is someone to show him how to be a Don Juan between the sheets. To teach him where he's going wrong. But who? Sex Lessons is a frank but humorous tale about one man's extra-curricular inactivity.
