A 60 Second Interview with Tony Sheppard

Conducted by Alexander Bullivant, Sept 2009

Q. The photograph, with the ancient typewriter and the candle, suggests that you conform to the popular notion that writers work in garrets. (Tony laughs)

A. Like Handel, when producing the Messiah. Yes, but seriously: I live in a first-floor flat, which has a terrific view from a wide bay window. Perfect for looking at the dark mysterious world outside when, having woken in the middle of the night with what happens next clear in my mind, I needed to write.

Q. You assure me that the characters and the extraordinary situations are true to life, but some of it must be based on your experiences. And what inspired you to write Splinters?

A. I have either known all the characters in Splinters, or read about them; as in ‘Pythagoras’ the druid, who believed that Man’s soul transmigrates into other things at the point of death. But there is a little of me in all of them, I guess. What inspired me to write Splinters? Frustration.

Q. Because you’d retired and needed something to do?

A. No. Frustration, both with society, which I feel has descended in to secularity, and myself who did not turn out to be the perfect husband and father I wanted to be. An underlying theme in Splinters is that there are consequences for selfish living: Consequences that may come back to haunt one later in life.

Q. Splinters is full of emotion, complex relationships and characters. The picture of Esther, your main character on the Home Page of your website: Why can’t we see her face?

A. Hmm. People are complex characters. Esther? I decided to let the reader imagine what she looks like because she represents potential. The forces in the splinters inhabiting her represent the opposite ways a woman’s conscience pulls her in every decision she makes. Esther, like every woman, grows up full of hopes and dreams, but vulnerable and totally unaware of the setbacks she is bound to face in life. More than that, though, Esther represents the sort of woman I think society clearly needs. Mothers shape our children’s lives and attitudes in ways no legislation can.

Q. What’s the significance of the great oak tree, and the splinters? The fantasy element.

A. Metaphors: The tree represents life in general, the splinters outside influences, or temptations, and the souls the inner self we debate with when making decisions. ‘The curse of our clay’, is how Lord Byron described selfishness, I think.

Q. Why donate a portion of the profits to J.M.A.?

A. Some children don’t get the chance in life they deserve. J.M.A, does a great job of helping give them a good start.

Thanks, Tony. Great read, by the way.

My pleasure.